University of South Florida College Republicans, et al., Appellants v. Howard W. Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, et al.

The Constitution requires an “actual Enumeration” of the population every ten years. Congress has found that an accurate census “is one of the most critical constitutional functions our Federal Government performs,” and that using statistical methods risks “an inaccurate, invalid, and unconstitutional census.” So it gave any resident whose representation could be changed by such a method—and any Representative—a cause of action, heard by a threejudge district court and appealed to this Court. Pub. L. No. 105-119, § 209, 111 Stat. 2440, 2480–83 (1997). The risk Congress identified came to pass in 2020. Curtailing its enumeration operations, the Census Bureau replaced counting with whole-person imputation, adding at least 3.4% of the population by statistical inference. It later reported significant miscounts in 14 States; the 2010 census had none. This caused Florida to miss an additional House seat. Plaintiffs, including Florida voters and a Member of Congress, sued under § 209. The three-judge district court dismissed. The questions presented are:

1. Whether Florida residents and a Member of Congress who allege that the Census Bureau’s use of statistical methods cost their State a seat in the House of Representatives have Article III standing to challenge those methods.

2. Whether 28 U.S.C. § 1658(a)’s four-year limitations period displaces 28 U.S.C. § 2401(a)’s six-year period covering “every civil action commenced against the United States” for § 209 claims.