Cite as: 523 U. S. 767 (1998)
Stevens, J., dissenting
The uncontradicted testimony indicates that these people lived only on the filled portion of the Island. They were employed as cooks, maids, nurses, and hospital attendants. Both the New York and federal censuses counted these people as residents of New York.
The evidence also indicates that these residents voted in New York elections. According to maps prepared by the New York City Board of Elections in 1918, 1926, 1927, 1930, and 1945-1946, Ellis Island was part of a New York State Assembly District. Moreover, both the 1894 and the 1938 New York State Constitutions place Ellis Island in a New York State Senate District. Furthermore, since 1911 New York law has explicitly included Ellis Island in a federal congressional district. Finally, records of the New York City Board of Elections for 1918, 1919, 1925,3 1930, and 1953 indicate that Ellis Island residents actually voted during those years. Indeed, an official list of enrolled voters for "1944- 1945" identifies the party affiliation of over 50 residents of Ellis Island. It is reasonable to infer that residents of Ellis Island regularly voted in elections for New York offices and for candidates to represent New York in the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Given the public character of that activity it is also reasonable to infer that New Jersey was fully aware of that voting.
The Court fails to give proper weight to the fact that the entire population of the Island was counted as a part of New York in the federal census. The accuracy of the census is a matter of great importance to every State because it determines the size of a State's congressional delegation, as well as providing "the basis for the allocation of various benefits and burdens among the States under a variety of federal
total was roughly 50% greater than the 1920 total, the number of nonimmi-grants may also have risen by a similar percentage.
3 The 1925 records refer to 25 voters from Ellis Island, 14 of whom gave their addresses as on either Island No. 2 or Island No. 3, both of which are fill.
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