document: Simply put , the question was who should be counted as a person and who , if anybody , should not . But there 's nothing simple about it . The Senate voted one answer and , in effect , invited the Supreme Court to decide whether it was right or wrong . That happened because in the arithmetic of congressional reapportionment , every question becomes complex , contentious and politically charged . The point at issue in Senate debate on a new immigration bill was whether illegal aliens should be counted in the process that will reallocate House seats among states after the 1990 census . There could be enough of them to shift seats away from at least five states to Sun Belt states with large numbers of illegal residents . Nobody is certain because counting illegal aliens is a hard thing to do , given the fact that they do n't want to be spotted by the government . Then again , the Census Bureau maintains that not including them , and still coming up with an accurate 1990 population count , would be even more difficult . `` A census of only legal residents can not be done as accurately as a census of all residents , '' according to Census Bureau testimony to Congress . After the 1980 census , the government estimated that there were 2.57 million people in the United States illegally . There were other guesses , some of them far higher . The government made no attempt to count them out in the redistricting process ; indeed , the two previous administrations decided that the Constitution required that the census cover illegal aliens along with citizens . There is not likely to be any change in that prior to the 1990 census next spring . The Senate has passed an immigration bill including an amendment that would cut illegal aliens from the redistricting numbers , but it is not likely to clear Congress before the next year 's national head count . Sen. Richard Shelby , D-Ala. , proposed , and won , the immigration bill amendment that is supposed to exclude illegal aliens from the redistricting process . It would give Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher the assignment of adjusting the census figures so that illegal aliens do n't count for purposes of redistributing House seats . It does not come with instructions , so the department would have to figure out how . Shelby 's amendment says only that the secretary is to `` make such adjustments in total population figures as may be necessary , using such methods and procedures as the secretary determines feasible and appropriate '' to keep illegal aliens from being counted in congressional reapportionment . That task would be perilous politically , since it would involve taking House seats away from some states and giving them to others , all on the basis of estimates . With 435 seats in the House , every representative gained by a state is a representative lost by another . Opponents of the Shelby amendment , led by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass. , said it was unconstitutional , as well as unworkable . `` The framers of the Constitution intended to count all persons , '' Kennedy said . The Constitution itself says the apportionment of the House is to be determined on the basis of `` the whole number of free persons , '' excluding Indians and counting every five slaves as three persons . That was amended after the Civil War to say that the apportionment of House seats will be based on `` the whole number of persons in each state . '' Neither the original article nor the amendment mentions citizenship in connection with apportionment , although the term `` citizens '' is used in some other provisions . Opponents of the amendment said that showed the authors of both documents wanted everybody counted for purposes of apportionment . But Sen. Alan K. Simpson , R-Wyo. , said the people who wrote the documents had no concept of illegal aliens because there were n't any in their time . That came later , with immigration restrictions that began in 1875 . Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas , the Republican leader , said the question should be put squarely to the Supreme Court . He said it is unfair to count illegal aliens in reapportionment . `` It just does not make any sense , '' Dole said . `` It does violate the constitutional principle of one man , one vote . '' But opponents of the Shelby measure said apportionment does n't involve who votes and who does n't . Women could n't vote when the Constitution and the 14th Amendment were adopted , but they always were counted . Children ca n't vote , but they count , too . The amendment was adopted after the Senate voted 58 to 41 against a move to reject it , and 56 to 43 against scuttling it as unconstitutional . Shelby said that is sure to put the matter into the hands of the courts for a final judgment . `` Somebody is going to challenge it ... '' he said . `` Then , for the first time , we will let the Supreme Court of the United States decide something that we need an answer to ... ''
extractive_keyphrases: illegal aliens 1990 census house seats illegal residents national head count census bureau congressional reapportionment