People don’t seem to be reacting too negatively to the Supreme Court’s liberal wing deciding that Arizona’s nonpartisan redistricting panel can stand. Voters established the panel by referendum in 2000, after all, under a state constitution that delegates legislative power to the people through the referendum process.

As for the panel, that’s another matter entirely. In an age when partisan redistricting is blamed for uncompetitive elections, a lack of official accountability, extremism and political rancor, nonpartisan panels are widely praised and frequently promoted as the best way of returning fairness to redistricting. Arizona serves as a nice demonstration that this is all bunk.