Obama violating Constitution w/ census heist

There is a very interesting piece up at the excellent Samizdata blog about whether Obama's move of the Census to his personal control is unconstitutional. It really seems to be.

In Article I, Section 2 the US Constitution orders that "The
actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first
Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every
subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law
direct."

The Congress, by law directed that:

"The Secretary [of Commerce]
shall perform the functions and duties imposed upon him by this title,
may issue such rules and regulations as he deems necessary to carry out
such functions and duties, and may delegate the performance of such
functions and duties and the authority to issue such rules and
regulations to such officers and employees of the Department of
Commerce as he may designate."

As I read it, the Director of the Census must, by law, be within the Department of Commerce
and under the direction of the (Senate approved) Secretary of Commerce
who then reports to the president. Am I missing something?

I know it was discussed here earlier, but I have  question: What would the lefty blogosphere would say about Bush moving the census into
the White House's domestic policy shop (AKA Karl Rove's office)? In
particular, what if they did it at the behest of members of Bush's
coalition?

posted by Uncle Jimbo at 04:31 PM

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