Even in 1790, when the Census Act was passed, estimating practices were common, though not as sophisticated as the one the Census Bureau would employ in 2000.
22.
Instead, justices on both sides engaged in microscopic analysis of the opaque and, on their face, seemingly contradictory provisions of the Census Act that governed the outcome.
23.
Both courts interpreted the opaque provisions of the Census Act to prohibit the use of sampling for the purpose of allocating congressional seats among the 50 states.
24.
But the House Republicans and the individuals countered that the Census Act and the Constitution permit only an " actual enumeration, " or head count, for the census.
25.
The U . S . Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D . C ., siding with congressional Republicans, has ruled that the Census Act prohibits statistical sampling.
26.
The suit, filed Friday in U . S . District Court in Washington, states that the method, known as statistical sampling, violates the Constitution and the federal Census Act.
27.
Various other censuses had taken place but it was the passing of the Census Act 1800 that enabled the first Census of England, Scotland and Wales to be undertaken.
28.
The earliest meaasure of Bridekirk's population is after the 1800 Census Act when the government of Great Britain wanted to find the overall population of England, Wales and Scotland.
29.
In a vehement dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens said Congress in 1976 amended the Census Act to permit the type of statistical sampling the president wants to use next year.
30.
Those rulings relied on a Federal Census Act provision that requires the Secretary of Commerce to use sampling in determining population " except for " the purpose of congressional reapportionment.
