Court denying addresses in local census challenges

The Supreme Court said address lists compiled by the Census Bureau were confidential and could not be disclosed to local governments that have challenged the accuracy of the 1980 census.

The ruling came on suits by Essex County, N.J., and Denver which charged their populations were undercounted because the Census Bureau had reported occupied dwellings as vacant.

Some 40 other pending lawsuits challenging census results in various cities and states will be affected by the decision. State and local governments and various ethnic minority groups want assurance they are not undercounted because of the resulting loss of political representation in legislative bodies and of federal grants distributed on the basis of population.