Ellen Freidin, chairwoman of the two citizen Fair Districts amendments, was predictably giddy at Judge Jim Shelfer's decision to throw the Legislature's Amendment 7 off the ballot.

“We have always been confident that any court would look at this and see it for exactly what it is,” she said. “It’s an attempt to fool the voters, and as the judge said, to hide the ball.”

Freidin criticized the Legislature’s proposed standards as “non requirements” that would be given equal or a higher priority than those spelled out in the Fair Districts amendments. She said the proposed standards would allow wide discretion in crafting districts.

“It gives the Legislature free reign to continue drawing districts for their own political purposes,” she said.

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