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Opinion of OTMConnor, J.
tary could determine the population for the purposes of apportionment is to say that they had a purpose—just not the purpose that Justice Stevens imagines.
Justice BreyerTMs interpretation of § 195 is equally unpersuasive. Justice Breyer agrees with the Court that the Census Act prohibits the use of sampling as a substitute for traditional enumeration methods. But he believes that this prohibition does not apply to the use of sampling as a "supplement" to traditional enumeration methods. This distinction is not borne out by the language of the statute. The Census Act provides that sampling cannot be used "for the determination of population for purposes of apportionment of Representatives in Congress among the several States." 13 U. S. C. § 195. Whether used as a "supplement" or as a "substitute," sampling is still used in "determining"—that is, in "the act of deciding definitely and firmly." Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary 346 (1983). Under the proposed plan, the population is not "determined," not decided definitely and firmly, until the NRFU and ICM are complete. That the distinction drawn by Justice Breyer is untenable is perhaps best demonstrated by his own inability to apply it consistently. He acknowledges that the NRFU uses statistical sampling "to determine the last 10% of the population in each census tract," post, at 355 (emphasis added), yet he nonetheless finds that it is a supplement to the headcount and thus permitted by the Act.
B
The conclusion that the Census Act prohibits the use of sampling for apportionment purposes finds support in the debate and discussions surrounding the 1976 revisions to the Census Act. At no point during the debates over these amendments did a single Member of Congress suggest that the amendments would so fundamentally change the manner in which the Bureau could calculate the population for purposes of apportionment. See 122 Cong. Rec. 35171-35175
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