2019-01-21 Federal Census- Overly Intrusive, Absolutely Unconstitutional by KrisAnne Hall, JD

There have been many questions about the legitimacy of the extremely intrusive questions on the
current and most recent government census. I have recently been instructed that the census given
to those in the agricultural industry is even more intrusive than those given to the average home
owner; asking questions like how many bales of hay and how many pieces of equipment of 40
horsepower or more. In response to these questions I have prepared a brief summary of the
purpose of the census, not according to my opinion, but those that drafted, debated, and ratified
Article 1 Section 2 Clause 3 of the Constitution. I hope this will help us to understand how
unconstitutional these census questions really are.

Understanding the purpose of the census is fundamental to understanding its limitations. The
purpose of the census was two-fold;

1. Determine the number of federal representatives in the house

2. Set the portion of federal expenses to be apportioned to each State based upon
population.

Neither of these things is to be determined by property, but by numbers of persons alone. The
reason for the census was to keep the federal government from arbitrarily laying taxes and
apportioning unequal suffrage to the states and to keep the States from lying about their
population to get greater representation in the House or to share an unequal portion of the
national expenses. It is a count of the number of citizens in each State. That is why citizens
along and not non-citizens are subject to the Census via the Constitution. An alien (legal or
illegal) has no share in the payment of the national debt and no representation in Congress.
Aliens of all types, constitutionally speaking, ought to be legally prohibited from participating in
the census. It was set up to be a double check and balance for the ultimate protection of the
rights and property of the people. Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist #36:

“Let it be recollected, that the proportion of these taxes is not to be left to the discretion of the
national Legislature: but is to be determined by the numbers of each State as described in the
second section of the first article. An actual census or enumeration of the people must furnish the
rule; a circumstance which effectually shuts the door to partiality or oppression. The abuse of
this power of taxation seems to have been provided against with guarded circumspection. In
addition to the precaution just mentioned, there is a provision that all duties, imposts and excises
shall be UNIFORM throughout the United States.”

James Madison makes it clear in Federalist Paper 54 that it is the “fundamental principle of the
proposed Constitution, that as the aggregate number of representatives allotted to the several
States, is to be determined by a federal rule founded on the aggregate number of inhabitants…
who will be included in the census by which the Federal Constitution apportions the
representatives. We have hitherto proceeded on the idea that representation related to
persons only, and not at all to property.

Therefore the purpose and mechanism of the census is to numbers of people alone and not
property…at all.
The Irony of the hypocrisy of the federal government is the current expansion of federal power
through the census compared to the fact that current practice of Congress and the 16th
Amendment have most literally negated the entire purpose the Census was created in the first
place. In 1929, through the Reapportionment Act, Congress decided they would no longer assign
district representatives according to the census population but cap the number of representatives
at 435. If the number of House Reps is not going to be determined by the number of people
anymore, then half of the purpose of the Census is gone. The 16th Amendment destroyed the
second reason for the census. States are no longer assigned a portion of the national expenses
because now the federal government reaches into our individual pockets through direct taxation,
a principle the designers of our Constitution found despotic at best.

Not only is the created purpose of the census currently negated, our current census does a whole
lot more than count numbers of people, it counts property as well. If the framers of the nation
said that property is NOT the subject of the census, on what authority can the government
include this in the current census? The logical answer is that they cannot. They only mechanism
that allows them to do this is what our framers called a “forced construction” of the Constitution.

If you go to the government’s website on the census they will assure you that the current census
is lawful because the courts say so. However, that is not the standard our founders laid as the test
to legitimacy. Our founders said the Constitution, not the will of the government, is the only true
judge of the government’s power. Let’s look at the government’s reasoning as it compares to the
drafters’ limitations on government.

Government: In 1954, Congress codified earlier census acts and all other statutes authorizing
the decennial census as Title 13, U.S. Code. Title 13, U.S. Code, does not specify which
subjects or questions are to be included in the decennial census. However, it does require the
Census Bureau to notify Congress of general census subjects to be addressed 3 years before the
decennial census and the actual questions to be asked 2 years before the decennial census.

Founders: Let it be recollected, that the proportion of these taxes is not to be left to the
discretion of the national Legislature: but is to be determined by the numbers of each State as
described in the second section of the first article. An actual census or enumeration of the
people must furnish the rule; Alexander Hamilton, Fed. Papers #36

Government: The Legal Tender Cases, Tex.1870; 12 Wall., U.S., 457, 536, 20 L.Ed. 287. In
1901, a District Court said the Constitution’s census clause (Art. 1, Sec. 2, Clause 3) is not
limited to a headcount of the population and “does not prohibit the gathering of other statistics.”

Founders: “If the decision of the judiciary be raised above the authority of the [states]…
dangerous powers, not delegated, may not only be usurped and executed by the other
departments, but that the judicial department, also, may exercise or sanction dangerous
powers beyond the grant of the Constitution… James Madison, Virginia Assembly Report of
1800

“No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be
to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that
the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue
of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”
Alexander Hamilton Federalist Paper #78

Government: The census does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Morales v. Daley, 116 F.
Supp. 2d 801, 820 (S.D. Tex. 2000). In concluding that there was no basis for holding Census
2000 unconstitutional, the District Court in Morales ruled that the 2000 Census and the 2000
Census questions did not violate the Fourth Amendment or other constitutional provisions as
alleged by plaintiffs. (The Morales court said responses to census questions are not a violation of
a citizen’s right to privacy or speech.)

Founders: When told the government had the right to search the colonists property to ensure
compliance with the taxes through the mechanism of writs of assistance, James Otis Jr told the
court that this power “appears to me the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most
destructive of English liberty and the fundamental principles of law, that ever was found in an
English law-book.”

The federal government does not have the authority to assume a power simply because it is not
forbidden. To argue that the “Constitution doesn’t say we can’t do it” is the height of
Constitutional heresy! The powers delegated to the federal government are enumerated. If a
power is not part of that enumeration it is not a power that belongs to the federal government but
to the States! To claim otherwise is theft of State power.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. (10th Amendment)

A Republican Federalist in paper No. 5 stated that “the provision in the system for a
representation of the people, which is the corner stone of a free government.” If creating a census
was a mechanism to protect the “corner stone of a free government” surely our framers would
not have authorized the federal government to engage in principles contrary to that cause though
the use of that very mechanism.

The government’s attempt to place property into the national census appears to me to be a
mechanism to collect information regarding our personal property with the purpose to tax it in
the future. I also believe the federal government is trying to bring under its control
“unauthorized” agricultural activity.

Here is the description of one of the USDA propaganda videos promoting the census:

“How many baseballs could come from the cows American farmers produce? How much
college tuition could be paid by U.S. farm income? How many acres of farmland are in
conservation programs? These are some of the many things we can learn when U.S. farmers and
ranchers respond to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service’s agricultural surveys. See
some of these fun facts brought to life. Learn how important agriculture is to America and the
many ways farmers, ranchers and their rural communities benefit from accurate survey
responses.”
Sounds like the Feds are licking their chops at another revenue stream. You farmers alone can
pay college tuition for “every student for 3 years.” Conservation programs? Seems like I’ve
heard that one 21 times before?

Since the Federal government and the courts are aligned against these principles, there is no
protection that can be expected from such a tyrannical government. The only true limitation and
check on governmental power is the people. “That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” (Declaration
of Independence) We have the right and authority to say we will not allow the transgressing of
our rights. We have the power and the right to say, NO! We will not comply. Our State and local
governments should be protecting their citizens from this unconstitutional and unlawful
intrustion into our privacy and property.

Would you like some practical (not legal) advice? Do what my husband did when they came to
our house with this illegal nonsense. He answered the questions that were Constitutionally
sound. When the surveyor asked questions that were not legally sound, his answer was “None of
your business.” After a few questions answered in this manner, the woman asked my husband,
“Is it safe to assume that you will not be answering any of the rest of my questions?” My
husband simply replied, “Ma’am, I have answered all of your questions. My answer to the rest
will likely be ‘None of your business’ because the Constitution does not require me to answer
these questions, therefore these questions are illegal. Just because your computer does not give
you to the option to choose “None of your business” as an answer, does not mean that it is not an
answer.” This interaction let into a lesson on the Census and the Constitution and the surveyor
left enlightened, and surprisingly happy to have been so.