On Friday, Robert Groves, President Obama's choice to head the Census Bureau, will have his Senate confirmation hearing. His hearing is important because next year's Census has big political and economic ramifications, not only determining how House seats will be allocated among the states but also setting the formulas that will determine how huge amounts of federal dollars will flow.

That's why it's critical that Senators express clearly on the record concerns about the Census being politicized through questionable statistical manipulation. Recall the furor when GOP Senator Judd Gregg withdrew his nomination for Commerce Secretary after it became clear the White House would be exercising "oversight" over how the Census Bureau he would have supervised did its work. A continuing battle has concerned attempts to inject dubious statistical theories into the count. Mr. Groves, now a professor at the University of Michigan, himself unsuccessfully advocated statistically adjusting the Census when he was at the Census Bureau in 1990. He advised employing sampling techniques to create data for "missing" groups of people not picked up in the actual count.

Continue reading here [subscription required]: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124235189155622279.html