Measure to split California into three states removed from ballot by the state Supreme Court
The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Wednesday to remove from the November ballot a measure aimed at dividing California into three states.
The decision was a defeat for Tim Draper, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist considered an eccentric entrepreneur who spent $1.2 million on the measure.
Four years ago, the wealthy Atherton resident spent $5.2 million promoting a measure that would have split California into six states. It did not qualify for the ballot.
He reacted angrily to the court’s action, calling it “corruption.”
“Whether you agree or not with this initiative, this is not the way democracies are supposed to work,” he said in an email. “This kind of corruption is what happens in Third World countries.”
He said the state’s “insiders” were “in cahoots.”
In a brief order, the court said it acted “because significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition’s validity and because we conclude that the potential harm in permitting the measure to remain on the ballot outweighs the potential harm in delaying the proposition to a future election.”
The court, meeting in closed session, also agreed to rule eventually on the measure’s constitutionality, a ruling that is likely to go against the initiative. The challenge was filed last week by the Planning and Conservation League, an environmental group.
“They would not have removed it from the ballot unless it was their considered judgment that it is very likely not a valid measure that can go to the voters,” said University of Illinois law school dean Vikram Amar, a former UC Davis law professor.
Draper’s quixotic quest to divide up the state was viewed by some outside the state as another wacky California plan. It was widely publicized across the nation and became the butt of jokes.
The environmental group contended in its challenge that the measure amounted to a proposed revision of the state Constitution, which can be placed on the ballot only if two-thirds of both houses of the Legislature approve.
Proposition 9 was aimed at triggering a process for dividing California, but ultimately any such change would have to be approved by the U.S. Congress.
Amar, who has written about the measure for a legal blog, has long argued that Proposition 9 amounted to an illegal state constitutional revision. But he said it also had a federal constitutional flaw.
Before new states can be created out of an existing state, a state’s elected legislature must approve, Amar said.
More:
The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Wednesday to remove from the November ballot a measure aimed at dividing California into three states.
The decision was a defeat for Tim Draper, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist considered an eccentric entrepreneur who spent $1.2 million on the measure.
Four years ago, the wealthy Atherton resident spent $5.2 million promoting a measure that would have split California into six states. It did not qualify for the ballot.
He reacted angrily to the court’s action, calling it “corruption.”
“Whether you agree or not with this initiative, this is not the way democracies are supposed to work,” he said in an email. “This kind of corruption is what happens in Third World countries.”
He said the state’s “insiders” were “in cahoots.”
In a brief order, the court said it acted “because significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition’s validity and because we conclude that the potential harm in permitting the measure to remain on the ballot outweighs the potential harm in delaying the proposition to a future election.”
The court, meeting in closed session, also agreed to rule eventually on the measure’s constitutionality, a ruling that is likely to go against the initiative. The challenge was filed last week by the Planning and Conservation League, an environmental group.
“They would not have removed it from the ballot unless it was their considered judgment that it is very likely not a valid measure that can go to the voters,” said University of Illinois law school dean Vikram Amar, a former UC Davis law professor.
Draper’s quixotic quest to divide up the state was viewed by some outside the state as another wacky California plan. It was widely publicized across the nation and became the butt of jokes.
The environmental group contended in its challenge that the measure amounted to a proposed revision of the state Constitution, which can be placed on the ballot only if two-thirds of both houses of the Legislature approve.
More:
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-three-state-court-20180718-story.html