Sunday, December 18, 2011
Gerrymandering and Legislative District Residency Requirement
The plain language of the New Jersey Constitution states that a person must live in his or her legislative district for at least one year before he or she is eligible to run for New Jersey State Assembly. In 2011, New Jersey underwent its decennial legislative re-districting. Because the changes in the district lines directly effected several sitting legislators, and a number of hopefuls, the district residency requirement has come under some political scrutiny, and has provided a source of disagreement.
The language of the New Jersey Constitution is quite clear. Nevertheless, there is a lot of disagreement over its language. Only in New Jersey, you say? Well, not so fast.
When the New Jersey legislature assembles on January 10, and the new legislature is sworn, there will be three members of the General Assembly who will be sworn in in seeming violation of the New Jersey Constitution. Reed Gusciora (15th LD), Ralph Caputo (29th LD) and Gabriela Mosquera (4th LD) have all lived in their legislative district for less than the one year required by article IV, sec. 1 par. 2. How can this be?
This is the case because the New Jersey Constitution does not exist in a vacuum. It exists in harmony with the other state constitutions and the United States Constitutions. In the overall constitutional scheme, provisions of state constitutions must pass federal constitutional muster.