In back to back blog posts on Justia.com, Dean Vikram Amar discussed a proposal to split California into several states, including some of the legal issues as well as several political obstacles, and explained how implementation of the National Popular Vote plan could actually be beneficial to the proposal.

He wrote:

"The newly proposed measure filed with the California Secretary of State last month seeks to create the following three new states out of what is currently California: (1) 'Northern California' (consisting essentially of the San Francisco Bay Area counties, the counties extending eastward from the Bay Area to the Nevada border, and everything north of that line to the Oregon border); (2) 'California' (consisting of the coastal counties from Monterey to Los Angeles, inclusive); and (3) 'Southern California' (consisting of Orange and San Diego Counties, the Inland Empire, and the vast majority of the Central Valley.)

"As I noted in my column two weeks ago, each of these three new states would contain more than 10 million people, making each of the three still among the ten biggest (in terms of population) in the resulting nation of 52 states (a powerful reminder of Mr. Draper’s point about how large California has become.)

"Like his original plan to divide California up into six states, the three-Californias concept faces legal hurdles, some of which I discussed two weeks ago. In the space below, I explore some of the political reasons Mr. Draper’s newest idea is unlikely to succeed, even if he is able to gather the requisite number of signatures to place the measure on the ballot. (With enough money, virtually any initiative proponent can surpass the signature threshold and place a measure before the voters.)"

The original blog posts, Carving California and Political Impediments to Carving California into Three States, and Why Tim Draper Should Support the NPV Plan for Presidential Elections are both available on verdict.justia.com.