Topline
The Justice Department on Thursday moved to join a lawsuit against California’s redistricting effort, arguing the measure passed by voters last week constitutes illegal racial gerrymandering.
Over 64% of California voters approved new congressional maps that would give Democrats an advantage in several congressional races.
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Key Facts
The Justice Department asked to join a lawsuit filed by California Republicans against the state’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom last week, filing a motion to intervene in the case on Thursday.
The suit accuses the new plan of violating the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, and claims the plan is “intentional racial discrimination” under the Voting Rights Act.
“California’s legislators and governor sold a plan to promote the interests of Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections,” the proposed complaint filed on Thursday reads, but insists that Democratic leaders were instead focused on “bolstering the voting power of Hispanic Californians because of their race.”
In a statement on Thursday, Attorney General Pamela Bondi called the plan a “brazen power grab,” promising to challenge what she called “Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians.”
Newsom’s office was defiant, insisting in its own statement on social media “these losers lost at the ballot box and soon they will also lose in court.”
Key Background
Newsom launched his aggressive redistricting push earlier this year after Trump began pushing for Republican-lead states to redraw their own maps to favor Republicans before the 2026 midterm elections. While redistricting bills eliminated Democratic-majority districts in Texas and Missouri, California’s new maps could eliminate up to five Republican districts in the Golden State. The redistricting plan was put before California voters in November as Proposition 50, and passed with 64.4% of voters approving the new maps.