Instead they specifically selected the word "persons". Further. the history of our country is absolutely clear with regard to the counting of residents. both legal and illegal. for apportionment purposes. Every census since the Constitution was adopted has counted all residents of the States. including not only citizens. but both documented and undocumented residents. The Framers were there during the 1790 census. If the count was not done according to their intent. surely they would have made this known and done something about it. The language of the Constitution has been construedboth by the Congress and by the Courtsfor 200 years to include all residents of the States. illegal and legal. citizens and noncitizens. as a matter of constitutional law. Mr. Speaker. this is not a new issue. The House Committee on the Judiciary studied this issue in depth in 1940. and rejected a bill that would have excluded undocumented residents from the population base for apportionment purposes. As the late Emmanuel Celler. for many years the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. stated at the time. "The only way we can exclude them would be to pass a constitutional amendment." The U.S. Supreme Court. in refusing to hear a case brought in 1980 which sought to exclude undocumented residents from the census. noted that "the defendants interpretation of the constitutional language Is bolstered by two centuries of consistent interpretation." The Constitution is not ambiguous on this point. In case after case. the Supreme Court has emphasized that the standard for reapportionment is the actual number of people inhabiting the States. I urge the House once again to reject this unworkable proposal. which would exclude undocumented residents from being counted in the census for purposes of reapportionment. as clearly unconstitutional.
Keywords matched
undocumented noncitizens