Nancy Vogel reports for the Los Angeles Times that despite attempts to remove the measure from the ballot, the GOP-backed plan to redistrict California mid-census is back on the ballot.

The California Supreme Court handed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a major victory Friday, putting back on the Nov. 8 ballot his initiative to change how legislative district lines are drawn.

The brief order, issued by a 4-2 vote, ends a monthlong legal battle between supporters of the initiative, Proposition 77, and Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer. The attorney general had won two rounds in lower courts. Those judges accepted his argument that the measure should not be voted on in November because its backers had violated election law in the way they got the measure on the ballot.

The Supreme Court overturned those lower-court decisions. But it left open the possibility that the election-law violations could still sink the ballot measure. If voters approve the measure, the justices said, they might then review the legal issues to determine if it is valid.

Were this not a cynical attempt to boost Tom DeLay's majority in the House of Representatives not dissimilar to the mid-census redrawing in Texas, I would be apt to support this plan. However, it's clear that many supporters of this measure do not have good government on their mind.

I instead support the bipartisan approach championed by Blue Dog Democratic Congressman John Tanner of Tennessee, who has garnered more than 30 co-sponsors for his state-by-state approach to the redistricting process. This will ensure that DeLay and his cronies cannot use the process of good government to enhance their partisan machinations.