U.S. District Court Finds Mosquera Election Invalidation Unconstitutional

June 28, 2012

U.S. District Court Finds Mosquera Election Invalidation Unconstitutional

(Trenton)-  On Tuesday, the U.S. District Court of New Jersey rejected the New Jersey Supreme Court’s ruling in the recent challenge to the election of Gabriela Mosquera, finding it unconstitutional to apply the one-year eligibility requirement in election years immediately following redistricting.  The Honorable Dickinson R. Debevoise found that while the law is in place to prevent candidates from moving into an electorally favorable district shortly before an election, “during reapportionment years, the one-year requirement cannot possibly serve to. . . prevent carpetbagging when the constituency has only existed for seven months.”  Assemblyman John Wisniewski, Chairman of the Democratic State Committee, released the following statement about the judicial victory:

“This is a great win for common sense democracy in New Jersey and a loss for Governor Chris Christie and anyone who would seek to use our judiciary system to disenfranchise New Jerseyans.  The effort to prevent Assemblywoman Mosquera from representing the constituents who duly elected her has always been about sour grapes:  Republicans didn’t like the results of the 2011 legislative election and found a loophole they believed they could exploit, even if they had to ignore judicial precedent to have it applied.   This ruling means that no future candidate will be forced to run twice in the span of two years following redistricting.”

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Background:

Last year, the legislative redistricting process was completed in April 2011.  Candidates for the newly created districts were up for election that November.  Gabriela Mosquera, candidate in the 4th legislative district, won her election to serve her community in the General Assembly. The losing candidate, after the election had already taken place, sued to overturn the election results claiming that Mosquera was ineligible because she had moved to her new home in the district 10 months before the election. The Attorney General’s office, under the direction of Governor Chris Christie, took the side of the losing candidate, citing state law that requires candidates live in a district for one year in order to be eligible for election. However, 10 years earlier the federal U.S. District Court of New Jersey had declared application of the rule unconstitutional in the election immediately following redistricting because the new districts had not even existed a year before.   In February, the New Jersey Superior Court ignored the federal court order, invalidated Mosquera’s election, but allowed her to be seated and represent her community in the Assembly until a special election could be held in November 2012.   Following the February ruling, the Attorney General petitioned to have the federal court order upholding Mosquera’s election removed. The New Jersey Democratic State Committee, along with the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, the Latino Action Network, the Latino Coalition Of Monmouth County, Women’s Political Caucus of NJ, and the Latinas United For Political Empowerment Political Action Committee, represented by the firm of Weissman & Mintz in Somerset, petitioned the federal court to uphold its decision.  Yesterday’s ruling rejected the Attorney General’s request and held that the Supreme Court’s refusal to follow the federal court order had been improper.