Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-366_7647.pdf
Page Number: 14

Cite as:  592 U. S. ____ (2020) 

7 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

quire that funding be allocated based on the results “certi-
“stated,”  49  U. S. C. 
fied,”  16  U. S. C.  §669c(c)(3), 
§47114(d)(1)(B), or “reported,” 52 U. S. C. §20901(d)(4), by 
the decennial census.  These phrases seem always to have
been  understood  to  refer  to  the  apportionment  tabulation 
reported  to  the  President  by  the  Secretary  of  Commerce 
(the report here at issue), because that is the only tabula-
tion that the law requires to be “certified” or “reported” as 
part of the decennial census.  See 16 U. S. C. §669c(c)(3); 52 
U. S. C. §20901(d)(4).  See generally Brief for Professor An-
drew Reamer, Ph. D. as Amicus Curiae 2–3.  The Govern-
ment counters that appellees have not identified any reason
why  the  individuals  unlawfully  removed  from  the  tabula-
tion  could  not  be  added  back  in  for  purposes  of  applying 
funding  statutes.  Reply  Brief  for  United  States  7.  But 
there is no indication that the Secretary could or would do 
any such thing—unless of course a court holds that the re-
moval  was  unlawful.  And  the  possibility  of  adding  back 
those  who  have  otherwise  been  unlawfully  removed  from 
the count does not undercut a plaintiff ’s standing to pursue 
a claim of unlawfulness in the first instance. 

Moreover,  the  statute  says  that  “the  President  shall
transmit  to  the  Congress  a  statement  showing  the  whole 
number of persons in each State . . . as ascertained under 
the  . . .  decennial  census  of  the  population.”  2  U. S. C. 
§2a(a)  (emphasis  added).  Statute  after  statute  pegs  its 
funding to a State’s share of “the total . . . population of all
the  States  as  determined  by  the  last  preceding  decennial 
census.”  See, e.g., 7 U. S. C. §361c(c)(2) (allocating funding 
by a State’s share of “the total rural [and farm] population
of  all”  States); 
(same);  49  U. S. C. 
§5305(d)(1)(A)(i)  (for  State  share  of  “population  of  urban-
ized areas”); §5311(c)(3)(B)(iii) (for State share of “the pop-
ulation of all rural areas”); see also U. S. Census Bureau, 
L. Blumerman & P. Vidal, Uses of Population and Income 
Statistics in Federal Funds Distribution—With a Focus on 

§2663(b)(4)