Also known as: censuses · censere · censo · population count · enumeration
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An official count of persons within a political subdivision conducted at regular intervals to compile demographic data. The count determines the apportionment of representatives among the states and the allocation of direct taxes in proportion to population.
Congress imposes a direct tax on property owners in several states to fund infrastructure. State officials challenge the levy because the tax is not allocated according to each state's share of the most recent national count of inhabitants. The court invalidates the tax for failing to satisfy the constitutional requirement that direct taxes be laid in proportion to population.
A state defends its abortion statute by arguing that a fetus qualifies as a person entitled to constitutional protection. Opponents point out that no census conducted under the enumeration clause has ever included fetuses among the persons counted for apportionment purposes. The court rejects the personhood claim in part because the historical practice of the census excludes fetuses from the population base.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A city ordinance limits occupancy of single-family homes to nuclear family members. Homeowners who live with adult grandchildren challenge the rule as violating substantive due process. Census data showing that more than one-quarter of American families include additional adult relatives supports the claim that the ordinance burdens a traditional living arrangement.
Investors sue an accounting oversight board whose members are removable only for cause by another agency. They argue that the structure violates separation of powers because the board exercises significant executive authority. Historical census figures documenting the growth of the federal workforce from roughly two thousand employees at the founding to over four million today illustrate the expansion of administrative government that the challenge addresses.
Voters in a rapidly growing state sue after the legislature fails to redraw districts following the latest decennial count. The complaint alleges that the existing map no longer reflects equal population among districts. The court holds the claim justiciable because the constitutional command of periodic enumeration supplies a judicially manageable standard for assessing vote dilution.
A political committee challenges spending limits imposed on candidates for federal office. The government defends the limits as necessary to prevent corruption in a nation whose population has grown dramatically since the founding. Census statistics showing the increase from four million to over three hundred million residents are cited to demonstrate the scale of modern electoral competition.
Article I, Section 2 requires an actual enumeration within three years after the first meeting of Congress and every subsequent term of ten years in such manner as Congress directs.
Supporting sources
The enumeration determines the apportionment of representatives and direct taxes among the states according to their respective numbers of persons.
Supporting sources
The constitutional text requires counting the whole number of free persons, those bound to service for a term of years, and three-fifths of other persons, while excluding Indians not taxed.
Supporting sources
Although the Constitution requires the count only for apportionment of representatives and direct taxes, Congress has directed the Census Bureau to collect additional social and economic data useful to government and private actors.
Supporting sources
…Tr. of Oral Rearg. 20-21. [^maj-52]: Tr. of Oral Rearg. 24. [^maj-53]: We are not aware that in the taking of any census under this clause, a fetus has ever been counted. [^maj-54]: When Texas urges that a fetus is entitled to Fourteenth Amendment protection as a person, it faces a dilemma. Neither in Texas…