TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Democrats’ partisan redistricting amendment is on life support for the time being, but the state’s academic community is trying to get a jump on the upcoming legislative redistrict process.
According to a Monday afternoon press release, “[a] group of academics who have been active in promoting improvements to legislative redistricting will be evaluating and making recommendations about the New Jersey process.”
Here’s the group:
Will Adler, Computational Research Specialist, Princeton Gerrymandering Project, Princeton University
Ronald Chen, University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers University Law School
Patrick Murray, Director, Monmouth University Polling Institute
Yurij Rudensky, Redistricting Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law
Samuel Wang, Professor of Neuroscience and Director of Princeton Gerrymandering Project, Princeton University
Ben Williams, Legal Analyst and Project Coordinator, Princeton Gerrymandering Project, Princeton University
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“We recognize that there will be conflicts between an ideal set of reforms and the political realities of New Jersey. The key is striking an appropriate balance for fair redistricting,” said Murray, a pollster and one of the redistricting amendment’s leading critics.
The proposed constitutional amendment championed by the Democrat legislative leadership — which would’ve enshrined the state legislature’s one-party orientation for decades to come — generated profound criticism from a rag-tag coalition of conservatives, Republicans, “progressive” activist groups and the media/academic establishment.
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