Reading Room Document
Constitutionality of State-Imposed Restrictions on Responses to Census Questions
The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution bars a state from imposing restrictions on its residents' responses to questions contained in census form. Specific limited grant of power in the Constitution does not preclude Congress from enacting broader census legislation under the Necessary and Proper Clause. Statutory delegation to the Secretary of Commerce and Director of the Bureau of Census is not excessive, considering long history of census legislation and practice, and census forms are within that delegation. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/22491/download.
The OLC's Opinions
Opinions published by the OLC, including those released in response to our FOIA lawsuit