508
Opinion of Thomas, J.
counting of persons. The Court contends that imputation does not differ in principle from other traditional methods of counting, such as questioning of " 'neighbors, landlords, postal workers, or other proxies' " about the number of inhabitants in a particular place. Ante, at 477. But that point is flawed in several important respects. To begin with, from the first census, such information was taken through an actual inquiry of a family member who was over the age of 16. Act of Mar. 1, 1790, § 6, reprinted in Wright 926. That household member was "obliged to render to such assistant of the division, a true account, if required, to the best of his or her knowledge, of all and every person belonging to such family respectively . . . on pain of forfeiting twenty dollars, to be sued for and recovered by such assistant." Ibid. Estimation was not allowed and family members who were caught providing false information were subject to fines.
Questioning neighbors was not permitted until 1880 and even then census data could only be based on information provided by those "living nearest to such place of abode." Act of Mar. 3, 1879, § 8, id., at 937. Again, family members or agents of families were required by law "to render a true account" and those who "willfully fail[ed] or refuse[d]" were "guilty of a misdemeanor" and required to "pay a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars." § 14, id., at 938. That process is far different from a computation where data about one "donor" house, that appears on "Census Burea[u] records," Hogan, App. 255, compiled far away from the actual residence, is used to estimate data about another. With "status imputation," for example, the Census Bureau is willing to impute data even though it categorizes these households as "Donees" "for which we know nothing." Memorandum Series B-17, id., at 195. While subsequent Acts may permit other forms of proxy, they do not assist with our analysis of the original understanding. Nor are we called upon to judge their constitutionality here. Because hot-deck imputation is an estimation procedure that includes persons not
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