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The boldfaced warning on the census envelope that told Russ Kaemmerling that his responses are "required by law" didn't prevent him from leaving all but the first question on the form blank. Like many Americans this year, the 51-year-old DeSoto resident said he felt that the government had no right to know anything more than how many people live in his household. "That's the only constitutional requirement," Mr. Kaemmerling said. "I consider it [the census form] an invasion of privacy. I think it's invasive and potentially dangerous." Some politicians - including Gov. George W. Bush - have encouraged people only to answer questions on the 2000 census that they feel comfortable with. Census officials continue to ask for responses to all questions but say that partial responses are better than none. Although the $100 federal penalty for not participating in the census is rarely imposed, it remains on the books. That means politicians such as Mr. Bush and many Republicans in Congress could be putting people in legal jeopardy, said Mark Brewer, a Houston lawyer who has filed a lawsuit against the Census Bureau and its parent agency, the Commerce Department, in federal court. "They're telling people to break the law," he said. "They have prosecuted in previous years. Who wants to be the example?" Criminal risk On behalf of five plaintiffs, Mr. Brewer accuses the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau of unconstitutional privacy violations.He argues that the census should be only a head count and that people who don't fully respond run the risk of criminal prosecution. Politicians' statements have drawn wide coverage by the news media, but the lawsuit is probably the most significant development in this census season, said Dr. Margo Anderson, a census historian at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. "At least it lifted the issue out of the vagaries of talk radio and into an environment that you could resolve it - namely a court," Dr. Anderson said. Mr. Brewer said he expects a ruling in the case in a few weeks. A federal judge in Houston has issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the plaintiffs from being punished while the case proceeds. Commerce Department officials have said they don't expect the lawsuit to succeed. Several court decisions have upheld the legality of long-form questions and of the bureau's ability to punish those who don't participate in the census, said Rep.Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the House census subcommittee. "They give an impression that this is some new intrusion by the government. That's not the case," Ms. Maloney said. "It's going to be thrown out in court. It has no merit." Census critic Matthew J. Glavin, a frequent census critic who challenged the Census Bureau's statistical sampling plan before the Supreme Court last year, said the census as it is conducted violates four constitutional amendments as well as the original text of the document. His Southeastern Legal Foundation will assist Mr. Brewer in court. "He's got a great case," said Mr. Glavin, president of the Atlanta-based foundation. "The government can't extort private information under the threat of prosecution." Mr. Brewer said he asked the Justice Department if it would vow not to prosecute those who don't answer all census questions. Justice officials declined to negotiate with him, he said. Dr. Anderson said the court will probably side with the Census Bureau, but it's hard to tell because these issues haven't come up in many years. Mr. Brewer said they have never been tested in civil court. "There's never been a case brought like this," Mr. Brewer said. "We felt it was important . . . to get before a court in a civil context and ask it to please declare what our rights and responsibilities are." Regardless of the lawsuit's resolution, the suit's filing and statements by politicians could harm operations, Census Bureau director Kenneth Prewitt said last week. Dr. Prewitt said he was disappointed in census response rates, and the census long form - the detailed questionnaire that has been the object of much of this year's ire - has been returned at much lower rates than the short form. The long form is sent randomly to one in six households. Census operations could continue to be hampered through the rest of the spring, when the Census Bureau will deploy an army of enumerators to go door to door to households that have not responded to the census via mail, Dr. Anderson said. "The bureau has to chase down the American people in all of this confusion," she said. Mr. Glavin predicts that the 2000 census will be a large-scale failure. He said that the public has rejected the census this year and the Census Bureau should be dismantled and reformulated in a way that sticks closer to the original Constitution, which requires only an "actual enumeration" every 10 years. Pivotal year Census officials have long acknowledged that this year's census is a pivotal one for the bureau and that a poor count could force a re-examination of census methods. Still, wholesale changes on the order of Mr. Glavin's recommendation are highly unlikely, Dr. Anderson said. Congress could vote to remove the punishments for not responding, she said. A bill that would essentially make all but the first question optional was introduced in the House on Thursday by Rep. Mac Collins, R-Ga. Dr. Prewitt and several Democrats in Congress said they oppose the bill because it could hurt the ability to conduct this year's count. The controversy over the census and the long form will probably continue as the count proceeds, Dr. Anderson said. Perhaps nowhere are the terms of the debate as clearly defined as in Texas - with the lawsuit and the governor's statements on top of a census response rate that is trailing much of the rest of the nation, she said. "Texas does seem to be the microcosm for the nation this time," Dr.
Anderson said. "You can see a lot of the different issues all merging at
once."
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