UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

An application for a stay, pending appeal, of the District Court's judgment -- which declared that a New Jersey statute creating new election districts for United States Representatives in response to the 1980 census was unconstitutional because of population variances among the districts, and which enjoined any primary or general congressional elections under the statute -- is granted. There is a reasonable probability that four Justices of this Court will consider the issue of the proper interpretation of the controlling standard of Kirkpatrick v. Preisler, 394 U. S. 526, concerning permissible population variances to be sufficiently meritorious to note probable jurisdiction, and there is a fair prospect of reversal of the District Court's judgment. Moreover, applicants will suffer irreparable harm if the stay is not granted, and apportionment plans created by the legislature are to be preferred to judicially constructed plans.