The Mount Laurel doctrine stems from a 1975 court case, "Southern Burlington County N.A.A.C.P. v. Mount Laurel Township" ("Mount Laurel I"). The doctrine was an interpretation of the New Jersey State Constitution, and states that municipalities may not use their zoning laws in an exclusionary manner to make housing unaffordable to low and moderate income people. The court case itself was a challenge to Mount Laurel specifically, in which plaintiffs claimed that the township operated with the intent of making housing unaffordable for low and moderate income people. The doctrine is more broad than the court case, covering all New Jersey municipalities.