Yesterday was a wonderful day for the country. The Justice Department responded to some concerns about the confidentiality of census data by expressing their view that no provision of the Patriot Act overrides the confidentiality law that protects census data. This legal position agrees with the long-held views of the Census Bureau and the Commerce Department.

We are tasked by the Constitution to provide a true snapshot of the nation as a whole and, with this assurance by the Justice Department, we will be better able to get a true picture.

Thus, everyone living in the country, receiving a census form over the next few days, can fill out the form and mail it back knowing that the answers they provide will not be shared with any other agency, at the local, state, or federal level.

Dr. Robert Groves. Director of the U.S. Census Bureau