{"id":164576,"date":"2026-02-05T03:21:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T03:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/164576\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T03:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T03:21:19","slug":"supreme-court-allows-new-california-congressional-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/164576\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court allows new California congressional map"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Supreme Court<\/a> on Wednesday allowed California to use a new voter-approved congressional map<\/a> that is favorable to Democrats in this year\u2019s elections, rejecting a last-ditch plea from state Republicans and the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

No justices dissented from the brief order denying the appeal without explanation, which is common on the court\u2019s emergency docket. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A worker clears snow at the U.S. Supreme Court after a snowstorm Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mariam Zuhaib)<\/p>\n

A worker clears snow at the U.S. Supreme Court after a snowstorm Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mariam Zuhaib)<\/p>\n

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The justices had previously allowed Texas\u2019 Republican-friendly map<\/a> to be used in 2026, despite a lower-court ruling that it likely discriminates on the basis of race. <\/p>\n

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in December that it appeared both states had adopted new maps for political advantage, which the high court has previously ruled cannot be a basis for a federal lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Republicans, joined by the Trump administration, claimed the California map improperly relied on race as well. But a lower court disagreed by a 2-1 vote. The Justice Department and White House did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.<\/p>\n

The justices\u2019 unsigned order keeps in place districts that are designed to flip up to five seats now held by Republicans, part of a tit-for-tat nationwide redistricting battle spurred by President Donald Trump, with control of Congress on the line in midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Last year, at Trump\u2019s behest, Texas Republicans redid the state\u2019s congressional districts<\/a> with an eye on gaining five seats. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Gov.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a campaign event on Proposition 50, Nov. 1, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Ethan Swope, File)<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a campaign event on Proposition 50, Nov. 1, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Ethan Swope, File)<\/p>\n

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run<\/a>, pledged to respond in kind, though he had to win over voters, not just lawmakers, to do so. <\/p>\n

Newsom celebrated the court\u2019s decision, saying on social media that Trump had \u201cstarted this redistricting war\u201d and would end up losing out in the November midterms, when control of Congress is at stake. <\/p>\n

California\u2019s attorney general, Democrat Rob Bonta, said the decision was \u201cgood news not only for Californians, but for our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state Republican Party<\/a>, which brought the case, vowed to keep fighting against the map\u2019s use in future elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to vigorously argue for Equal Protection under the law for all of California\u2019s voters,\u201d Michael Columbo, counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

One longtime party strategist, Jon Fleishman, a former executive director of the California Republican Party, said in a post on X that the decision means \u201cthis year\u2019s elections will take place on the new lines shrinking the already very small Republican delegation from California.\u201d <\/p>\n

Filing for congressional primaries in California begins on Monday.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Michael Blood in Los Angeles and Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow the AP\u2019s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/us-supreme-court<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed California to use a new voter-approved congressional map that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1400,565,7,9,8,33907,1312,47689,27996,536,989,457,18,15534,79583,13,991,2794,71825,6140,6141,538,9111],"class_list":{"0":"post-164576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-2026-elections","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-california-headlines","12":"tag-california-news","13":"tag-california-state-government","14":"tag-courts","15":"tag-dc-wire","16":"tag-district-of-columbia","17":"tag-donald-trump","18":"tag-elections","19":"tag-gavin-newsom","20":"tag-general-news","21":"tag-jon-fleishman","22":"tag-michael-columbo","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-redistricting","25":"tag-rob-bonta","26":"tag-send-to-apple-news","27":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","28":"tag-u-s-republican-party","29":"tag-united-states-government","30":"tag-washington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}