The San Diego Union-Tribune is fine with the Supreme Court’s order taking the split-California initiative off this November’s ballot, but it criticizes the court’s failure to offer a detailed explanation for its ruling. By issuing just a “terse announcement,” the paper editorializes, the court “fail[ed] to grasp that full, persuasive explanations should be given when it takes the precipitous step of removing a duly qualified measure from the ballot.”
Of course, timing was a factor. The court — up against election deadlines — made its order only two days after preliminary briefing was completed, which didn’t give much of an opportunity to draft a “full” explanation. Full reasoning — either in support of or opposition to the initiative’s validity — will come after further briefing, oral argument, and ample time to write a comprehensive opinion.
