In re Contest of November 8, 2011 General Election of Office of New Jersey General Assembly, Fourth Legislative District

LEONE, J.S.C.

The New Jersey Constitution provides that “[n]o person shall be a member of the General Assembly who shall not ... have been a citizen and resident ... of the district for which he shall be elected [for] one year, next before his election.” N.J. Const. art. IV, § 1, ¶ 2. Respondent, Gabriela Mosquera, recently elected to the General Assembly from the Fourth Legislative District, admits that she was not a resident of the district for a full year before her election. Respondent argues, however, that this provision of the New Jersey Constitution violates the Equal Protection Clause…