California GOP asks Supreme Court to weigh in, block Prop. 50

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — California Republicans are turning their hopes to Washington as they ask the highest court in the land to block Proposition 50, a voter-approved measure to make California’s congressional map favor Democrats after Texas tipped the scales for Republicans there.

“An answer sooner than later will help everybody out,” Assemblymember David Tangipa told Action News.

The Clovis Republican is leading the lawsuit. At the center of the legal challenge, Tangipa argues, is the “intent” behind California’s new congressional maps.

“The mapmaker himself made the claim that the first thing he did when drawing these maps was create a Latino majority district,” Tangipa said. “So if the person who created the maps said the first thing they did was a race-based redistricting, he violated the Constitution.”

But lower courts have disagreed. Last week, a three-judge panel in Los Angeles ruled Republicans “failed to show that racial gerrymandering occurred.”

“This was not a three-to-zero throw-out case (where) we had no standing,” Tangipa said. “This really was a split court case that really looked two-to-one.”

Now, Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis.

“Take it real quick, so you can hear this case because it is of vital importance,” Action News Legal Analyst Tony Capozzi said of the attempt.

It will be up to a single justice, Elena Kagan, to decide if Prop. 50 should be blocked as the legal case plays out.

“What the plaintiffs are asking for is something right now to happen,” Capozzi said. “I would be very surprised if the Supreme Court did that.”

The legal back-and-forth comes just months before the midterms, with primary races set for June.

Tangipa says he intends to keep fighting. But Democrats, like Fresno’s Lonny Johnson, say Prop. 50 is settled.

“The people of California voted on this,” Johnson said. “They voted overwhelmingly for it, and they supported it.”

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