Republicans and Democrats square off in court Monday in a high-stakes battle over the fate of California\u2019s Proposition 50, which reconfigures the state\u2019s congressional districts and could ultimately help determine which party controls the U.S. House in the 2026 midterms.<\/p>\n
Dozens of California politicians and Sacramento insiders \u2014 from GOP Assembly members to Democratic redistricting expert Paul Mitchell \u2014 have been called to testify in a Los Angeles federal courtroom over the next few days.<\/p>\n
The GOP wants the three-judge panel to temporarily block California\u2019s new district map, claiming it is unconstitutional and illegally favors Latino voters.<\/p>\n
An overwhelming majority of California voters approved Prop. 50 on Nov. 4 after Gov. Gavin Newsom pitched the redistricting plan as a way to counter partisan gerrymandering in Texas and other GOP-led states. Democrats admitted the new map would weaken Republicans\u2019 voting power in California, but argued it would just be a temporary measure to try to restore national political balance.<\/p>\n
Attorneys for the GOP cannot challenge the new redistricting map on the grounds that it disenfranchises swaths of California Republicans. In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided<\/a> that complaints of partisan gerrymandering have no path in federal court. <\/p>\n But the GOP can bring claims of racial discrimination. They argue<\/a> California legislators drew the new congressional maps based on race, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment, which prohibits governments from denying citizens the right to vote based on race or color.<\/p>\n The hearing comes just a few weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Texas to temporarily keep its new congressional map \u2014 a move that Newsom\u2019s office says bodes poorly for Republicans trying to block California\u2019s map.<\/p>\n \u201cIn letting Texas use its gerrymandered maps, the Supreme Court noted that California\u2019s maps, like Texas\u2019s, were drawn for lawful reasons,\u201d Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for Newsom, said in a statement. \u201cThat should be the beginning and the end of this Republican effort to silence the voters of California.\u201d<\/p>\n In Texas, GOP leaders drew up new congressional district lines after President Trump openly pressed them to give Republicans five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. A federal court blocked the map, finding racial considerations likely made the Texas map unconstitutional. But a few days later the Supreme Court granted<\/a> Texas\u2019 request to pause that ruling, signaling they view the Texas case, and this one in California, as part of a national politically-motivated redistricting battle.<\/p>\n