362
Stevens, J., dissenting
What is surprising is that the Court's interpretation of the 1976 amendment to § 141 drains it of any meaning.7 If the Court is correct, prior to 1976 the Secretary could have used sampling for any census-related purpose except apportionment, and after 1976 he retained precisely the same authority. Why, one must wonder, did Congress make this textual change in 1976? 8 The substantial revision of § 141 cannot fairly be dismissed as "only a subtle change in phraseology." Ante, at 343. Indeed, it "tests the limits of reason to suggest" that this change had no purpose at all. Ibid.
II
Appellees have argued that the reference in Article I of the Constitution to the apportionment of Representatives and to direct taxes on the basis of an "actual Enumeration" precludes the use of sampling procedures to supplement data obtained through more traditional census methods. U. S. Const., Art. I, § 2, cl. 3. There is no merit to their argument.
In 1787, when the Constitution was being drafted, the Framers negotiated the number of Representatives allocated to each State because it was not feasible to conduct a census.9
7 In its response to this dissent, the plurality acknowledges that the "subtle change in phraseology" in § 195 transformed a provision that simply permitted sampling into one that required sampling for nonapportionment purposes. Ante, at 343. But it fails to acknowledge that this change removed the only textual basis for its conclusion that § 195 prohibits the use of statistical sampling for apportionment purposes. An exception from the grant of discretionary authority in the pre-1976 version of § 195 may fairly be read to prohibit sampling, but that reasoning does not apply to an exception from a mandatory provision.
8 See Stone v. INS, 514 U. S. 386, 397 (1995) ("When Congress acts to amend a statute, we presume it intends its amendment to have real and substantial effect").
9 Article I, § 2, cl. 3, provides that "until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one,
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