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This nation’s empirical and inquisitive Founders considered information conducive to improvement, which is one reason the Constitution mandates a decennial census.

And why James Madison soon proposed expanding the census beyond mere enumeration to recording other data. Today, the census provides an ocean of information indispensable to understanding this complex society. And it determines the disbursement of $1.5 trillion annually from the federal government.

The 14th Amendment, which stipulates the enumeration of “the whole number of persons,” elsewhere uses the term “citizens.” So, by “persons” the amendment’s authors denoted a broader category. The Supreme Court has held that in this amendment “persons” refers to the “total population,” including immigrants, “whatever” their “status under the immigration laws.”