490
Opinion of Thomas, J.
one Representative and Utah lost one Representative as a result of hot-deck imputation. See ante, at 458.
While the Court has aptly described the process of "hot-deck imputation," several facts about this method are worth noting at the outset. The Census Bureau refers to hot-deck imputation procedures as "estimation." U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Decennial Statistical Studies Division, Census 2000 Procedures and Operations, Memorandum Series Q-34 (hereinafter Memorandum Series), App. 153, 156. It used this form of "estimation" for three different categories of units: (1) those units classified as occupied but with no population count (household size imputation), (2) those units that are unclassified (either occupied or vacant) but that "we know exist" (occupancy imputation), and (3) those units that are unclassified and are "either occupied, vacant, or delete" (status imputation). Memorandum Series B-17, id., at 194- 195. The "status imputation" category is the most troubling, because, as explained by the Department of Commerce, it refers to households "for which we know nothing," id., at 195, and therefore which may not even exist.
The Census Bureau explains that "[f]or estimation purposes, six categories are defined" because each of the preceding types of units are divided into two groups: single unit addresses and multiunit addresses. Ibid. The Bureau calls the six categories "estimation categories," and permits only certain types of units for each category to be used as "donors." Ibid. The Bureau then uses these donor units, for which data has already been obtained, to impute characteristics to a neighboring unit that falls within the above categories.
Whether this "estimation" technique passes constitutional muster depends on an evaluation of the language of the Census Clause and its original understanding.1
1 We gave some consideration to a similar question in Department of Commerce v. United States House of Representatives, 525 U. S. 316 (1999),
Page: Index Previous 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007