One might argue that this is a conservative decision. It leaves the status quo in place, and it defers to the state constitution in matters of state policymaking. States are able to order their institutions, so long as they do not deny or abridge fundamental rights of the individual. In the case of Arizona’s proposition 106, voters had exercised their right to enact “any law which may be enacted by the Legislature.” The Court has affirmed a state right.
The minority would doubtlessly disagree with this states’ rights characterization. Justice Roberts argues that “The Court’s position has no basis in the text, structure, or history of the Constitution, and it contradicts precedents from both Congress and this Court.” In effect, the Court has created this understanding of what is a legislature anew, out of whole cloth. More specifically, he refers to the decision as a “magic trick.” A legislature for Justice Roberts is a republican form of legislature, the representative institution, rather than the potentially evolving legislative authority of the state.