Robertson v. Bartels Under the Microscope

At the end of the highly litigious legislative reapportionment fight of 2001, Federal District Court Judge Dickinson Debevoise determined under a strict scrutiny analysis that the New Jersey State Constitution's one year residency requirement for Assembly candidates violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. As reported by the New Jersey Law Journal last Friday, the New Jersey Supreme Court is now determining whether a State judge's decision annulling the election of Democrat Gabriela Mosquera's to the Fourth Legislative District may stand.

Other federal jurisdictions have ruled differently in recent years regarding residency restrictions depending on a number of factors, but generally upholding shorter restrictions while overruling more lengthy ones that were seemingly unjustified for lesser offices. For example, a Governor could be required to reside in a State for at least 10 years, but a state legislator in a state where they only represent a few thousand people could not be subject to a 10-year residency requirement as there is no rational basis for such a lengthy residency. In New Jersey, the Robertson v. Bartels decision has stood for a decade as the law of the land, in 2011 however, it was brought into question in the case of Olympian Carl Lewis where the Third Circuit, upholding a lower court decision, declined to apply a strict scrutiny analysis to the New Jersey Constitution's lengthier residency requirement for State Senators.

The instant case raises not only the question of whether New Jersey's residency requirement is constitutional, but the role of federal courts passing judgement on the State's constitution. The Mosquera case is made even more unique in that it was brought post-election, just days before Mosquera was to be sworn into office. The State argues that while it was bound by Judge Debevoise's decision in Bartels, which is why the Secretary of State certified Mosquera's placement on the ballot, it can now question the decision in State court. Should Mosquera lose before the New Jersey Supreme Court, it appears that this matter could end up being resolved in federal court.