“The New Jersey Supreme Court rejected a challenge to municipal political district drawing, short-circuiting litigation that could have led to a wave of redistricting lawsuits across the state.
The divided court ruled that judges need not consider mathematical formulas or community cohesion when deciding if a political district meets the state’s mandate for ‘compactness.'”
Divided decisions are apparently rare for the NJ Supreme Court. The case involved a challenge to the drawing of Jersey City wards, “with challengers claiming that the addition of wealthy high-rise residents into a low-income ward diluted the power of poor residents to elect a candidate that championed additional low-income housing.”