Cite as: 505 U. S. 788 (1992)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
asserts that the discretion afforded by the statute is at least as broad as that allowed the Director of Central Intelligence in the statute we considered in Webster v. Doe, 486 U. S. 592 (1988). That assertion cannot withstand scrutiny. The statute at issue in Doe provided that "the Director of Central Intelligence may, in his discretion, terminate the employment of any officer or employee of the Agency whenever he shall deem such termination necessary or advisable in the interests of the United States . . . ." 50 U. S. C. § 403(c). In concluding that employment discharge decisions were committed to agency discretion, we emphasized the language of "deem . . . advisable," which we found to provide no meaningful standard of review. We also relied on the overall statutory structure of the National Security Act.
No language equivalent to "deem . . . advisable" exists in the census statute. There is no indication that Congress intended the Secretary's own mental processes, rather than other more objective factors, to provide the standard for gauging the Secretary's exercise of discretion. Moreover, it
this phrase, it requires the conclusion that when Congress amended the statute in 1976, it intended to effect a new, unreviewable commitment to agency discretion. There is no support for this position whatsoever. The main purpose of the 1976 amendment was to provide for a mid-decade census to be used for various purposes (not including apportionment). See S. Rep. No. 94-1256, pp. 2-3 (1976). The legislative history evidences no intention to expand the scope of the Secretary's discretion.
The Senate Report on the new language in 13 U. S. C. § 141(a) reads in its entirety:
"Subsection (a) of section 141 essentially rewords the existing subsection, adding the term 'decennial census of population' so as to distinguish this census, to be taken in 1980 and every ten years thereafter, from the mid-decade census, which is to be taken in 1985 and every ten years thereafter. New language is added at the end of the subsection to encourage the use of sampling and surveys in the taking of the decennial census." S. Rep. No. 94-1256, at 4.
Indeed, other portions of the Act limited the Secretary's authority by
requiring, if feasible, the use of sampling in the nonapportionment census. 90 Stat. 2464, 13 U. S. C. § 195.
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