Utah Assistant Attorney General Ray Hintze said the state believed the method accounted to sampling akin to that which the Supreme Court had previously overturned. However, in this case the high court sided with the bureau.

"There were actually phantom people," Hintze said. "Some people with two homes may have been counted twice. ... The census workers in Utah were much more efficient at getting the numbers. There were very few people imputed in Utah."

Census Bureau spokesman Dave McMahon said the agency is still developing its Census 2010 methodology and hasn't yet decided whether it will use the estimation method.

A test of an overseas census found that counting all Americans living abroad wouldn't be feasible. Only about three of five Americans living in test countries responded to the test, which cost about $1,450 per person who was counted.

"I think for Utah, the overseas count is a big issue," said Joe Hunter, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, a member of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee, which oversees the Census Bureau. "It really is not that difficult, and even if it is difficult it should be done."

Hunter said Utah's lawsuits are being reviewed to decide whether administrative or legislative changes are needed to ensure a fair count.

"At this point it's not a concrete plan," he said. "We'll begin to look at that as we gear up for 2010."

Utah isn't the only state that has raised questions about census methodology. In 2005, a Michigan lawmaker introduced a bill to count only U.S. citizens when it comes to apportionment. Such a change would have meant immigrant-heavy states such as California would lose seats to states — including Utah and Michigan — that either lost or failed to gain a seat in 2000.

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com