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HoustonChronicle.com
March 23, 2000, 9:33PM

Census Bureau sued by Houston attorney
Forms called biased, invasion of privacy
By RAD SALLEE
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

Houston attorney Mark Brewer, who just lost a race for Congress, sued the
Census Bureau on Thursday, seeking to invalidate the Census 2000
questionnaires recently mailed to millions of U.S. homes.

The lawsuit contends that both Census 2000 questionnaires in use -- the
7-question "short form" and especially the 53-question "long form," mailed at
random to one household in six -- invade respondents' privacy and
discriminate against certain groups, such as Hispanics.

The suit also argues that sending the long form to only some homes is a form
of statistical sampling, which it says is barred by federal law and the
Constitution's requirement of an "actual enumeration."

The long form is known to have the lower response rate, Brewer said, so it
could be targeted to intentionally undercount certain population groups.

He also said some groups might be less likely to complete the long form, so
its use would depress the group's totals even if the mailout were random.

The suit contends Hispanics are discriminated against because they are asked
more questions than non-Hispanics.

Brewer ran fourth in the eight-candidate March 14 Republican primary to
succeed U.S. Rep. Bill Archer in the 7th District. On Wednesday, Brewer
denied accusations by the leading vote-getter, John Culberson, of waging a
smear campaign against him.

Brewer said his suit is unrelated to his political race, but one of the five
co-plaintiffs said he and the others supported Brewer politically.

George Breckenridge, 67, said Brewer invited him to join in the suit, which
he was handling for free.

Federal law calls for such suits to be heard speedily by a three-judge panel,
said Brewer, who, with four co-plaintiffs, spoke with reporters outside the
federal courthouse.

"These plaintiffs don't want to be threatened with criminal penalties for
failure to respond to the outrageously invasive and intrusive questions,"
Brewer said.

"They are also concerned they risk not being counted at all if they only
answer the constitutionally permissible question (i.e., how many people live
at their address)."

Breckenridge said his census questionnaire asked "a lot of ridiculous
questions, such as whether I have indoor plumbing."

Asked to name another objectionable query, he replied, "That's the only one
that comes to mind right now. Frankly, I don't trust the federal government."

Federal law requires recipients to fill out the forms truthfully. Brewer said
he intends to list only his household members and leave all other questions
blank, but is not advocating that anyone else do likewise.

Others are, though. The Libertarian Party recently urged Americans: "Strike a
blow for privacy: Refuse to answer nosy Census questions." And a radio talk
show host recently urged listeners to "just give your name, rank and serial
number."

Ironically for conservative critics of Census 2000, some of the questions
deemed intrusive were included at the request of businesses that use census
data on income, age and ethnicity for marketing purposes.

The government and nonprofit service agencies also use the data to target
assistance programs.

A Census Bureau official declined to comment on the suit, referring questions
to the U.S. solicitor general.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that statistical sampling is barred by the
Census Act for use in apportioning seats in Congress among the states, but
not for other uses, such as political redistricting and allocating federal
funds.

Census 2000's plans were then altered to exclude statistical sampling.
However, the Census Bureau intends to follow up with a separate, sample-based
survey to gauge how many people were overlooked.