OT: Judge puts brakes on Census Bureau (article link)

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TUESDAY

MARCH 28

2000

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YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE ...

Judge puts brakes on Census Bureau Attorney: 'Huge victory for the

Constitution and for privacy-loving Americans'

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By

© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

Americans who refuse to answer questions they consider invasive on their

Census questionnaires will be able to sleep a little easier -- at least for

now.

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the Census Bureau has no automatic right

to ask questions felt to be personal or intrusive and that it cannot threaten

or prosecute citizens who refuse to answer such questions.

U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon granted attorney Mark Brewer, of the

Houston-based firm of Brewer and Pritchard, a temporary restraining order in

a Census suit filed by five Houston, Texas, residents. Attorneys for the

government conceded that none of the five plaintiffs will be subject to

actual or threatened prosecution during this litigation which is expected to

go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ruling is especially far-reaching.

" For the moment, this will prevent prosecution against any American who

chooses not to answer questions other than the number of people living at

their address -- that's all that's required by the Constitution, " Brewer told

WorldNetDaily. " It's a huge victory for the Constitution and for

privacy-loving Americans, because we now have a ruling in a federal court

case.

" The Census Bureau cannot extract this information under threat of criminal

prosecution -- that was the issue I presented to the court, " he said.

The penalty for not answering each question asked on the forms is $100. False

answers can cost up to $500 in fines.

The five -- Edgar Morales, Laique Rehman, Nouhad Bassila, Breckenridge

and Van Fleet -- are American citizens.

Brewer said his clients are not part of any organized group, " though that is

what people have assumed. They are just ordinary people who want to be

counted, but who do not want to give up their privacy to do so. That's the

bottom line. "

" What the court did today, " Brewer explained, " was to order that the Bureau

could neither threaten nor actually prosecute these people for not answering

any question other than how many folks live at that address. It's the first

time to my knowledge that this has happened in the 213 years since we've had

a Constitution. "

As he put it, " We hit a home run. "

Recalling his day in court, Brewer said he told the judge she was " the only

barrier standing between government on the one hand and these five -- I think

very brave -- people and the American people generally on the other. I

pointed out that the government lawyer had just told her that he can ask

anything he darn near pleases -- where does it stop? "

Almost as important as the ruling itself is that the government conceded that

the plaintiffs have " standing, " meaning they had a right to bring an action

against the Census Bureau in the first place.

" This removed what was potentially the biggest impediment to the case moving

forward, " said Brewer. " We're now looking forward to phase two, which is when

the case will be submitted on summary judgement in two weeks. "

" This is what they call a three-judge court case, " he explained. " It's

federal, but it's a very unusual procedure. There are only a few instances

where it's permitted by federal law, this being the primary one: pertaining

to census and apportionment. The case is filed like any other case in federal

court, then it is referred by the chief judge of the circuit. "

In this case, that's the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, headed by Judge Carol

King.

Said Brewer, " The way it works is that when a motion of temporary restraining

order is filed, which we did on March 23, the single judge that gets the

initial assignment of the case can hear it. That's really about the only

thing the judge can hear and rule upon. Then the three-judge court is

convened and the case is submitted on trial -- and here it's for a summary

judgment because there's no dispute of the facts.

" Both sides have the right of appeal, " Brewer continued, " and we're assuming

they (the Census Bureau) will appeal it. And if we lose -- we'll appeal it.

Either way, it's on its way to the Supreme Court. "

Brewer is handling the case pro bono -- that is, without charge, but and for

the public good.

" One of the things I stressed to the judge, " said Brewer, [is that] neither

the plaintiffs nor I want to interrupt the census. To the contrary. I want to

ensure its constitutional integrity and validity. But when you look at the

lowered response rate, which by the Census Bureau's own admission is going to

occur with the use of the long form, then you can only conclude that they are

intentionally erecting a roadblock to getting an accurate count. They are

intentionally sacrificing an accurate count in order to obtain information

through statistics that they're not even entitled to obtain.

" Unfortunately, we know the government is capable of misusing census data, "

he said. " The federal government was only able to find, round up and imprison

Americans of Japanese ancestry in 1942 by the illegal use of Census Bureau

data. "

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Earlier stories about the census:

Census Bureau answers critics

Take your census and ...

Ministers recruited for census sermons

U.S. incensed over census

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is a staff reporter for WorldNetDaily.

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