13 U.S.C. § 1
Section 1 · Definitions
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 22 court decisions — leading case Department of Commerce v. United States House of Representatives (1999)
Most recently applied in Nat'l Ass'n v. Bureau of the Census (January 2019)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
As used in this title, unless the context requires another meaning or unless it is otherwise provided—
(1) “Bureau” means the Bureau of the Census;
(2) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Commerce; and
(3) “respondent” includes a corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, proprietorship, society, joint stock company, individual, or other organization or entity which reported information, or on behalf of which information was reported, in response to a questionnaire, inquiry, or other request of the Bureau.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Section is new, and was inserted to eliminate the necessity for referring, throughout this title, to the Bureau of the Census, and the Secretary of Commerce, by their full designations.
Amendments
1976—Pub. L. 94–521 designated existing provisions as pars. (1) and (2), and added par. (3).
Effective Date of 1976 Amendment
Section 17 of Pub. L. 94–521 provided that: “The amendments made by this Act [enacting sections 181 to 184 and 196 of this title, amending this section and sections 3 to 6, 8, 23, 141, 191, 195, 214, 221, 224, 225, and 241 of this title, and enacting provisions set out as notes under this section] shall take effect on October 1, 1976, or on the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 17, 1976], whichever date is later”.
Short Title of 1994 Amendment
Pub. L. 103–430, §1, Oct. 31, 1994, 108 Stat. 4393, provided that: “This Act [enacting section 16 of this title, amending sections 9 and 214 of this title and section 412 of Title 39, Postal Service, and enacting provisions set out as a note under section 16 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Census Address List Improvement Act of 1994’.”
Separability
Section 16 of Pub. L. 94–521 provided that: “If a provision enacted by this Act [see section 17 of Pub. L. 94–521 set out above] is held invalid, all valid provisions that are severable from the invalid provision remain in effect. If a provision of this Act [Pub. L. 94–521] is held invalid in one or more of its applications, the provision remains in effect in all valid applications that are severable from the invalid application or applications.”
Cross References
Collection and publication of foreign commerce and trade statistics, applicability of section to, see section 307 of this title.