U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi
LOS ANGELES - The Justice Department has become the latest to challenge in court California Democrats' unprecedented move to take control of the state's congressional map away from the constitutionally mandated independent commission in a bid to all but eliminate Republican congressional representation in the Golden State.
In a lawsuit filed Nov. 13, the U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump accuses California, under the leadership of Gov. Gavin Newsom, of violating the U.S. Constitution by drawing discriminatory congressional districts based on race.
Specifically, the Justice Department asserts Democrats brazenly redrew district lines with the stated intent to specifically increase the number of majority-Hispanic districts or districts in which it would be more likely to elect someone who is Hispanic or Latino to the U.S. House of Representatives, at the expense of Californians who are white, Asian, black or other ethnic or racial groups.
"The end result is a map that manipulates district lines in the name of bolstering the voting power of Hispanic Californians because of their race," the Justice Department wrote in its complaint.
"Our Constitution does not tolerate this racial gerrymander."
The Justice Department's lawsuit comes on the heels of a similar challenge brought by California Republicans against the new congressional map created under California's so-called Proposition 50.
Like the White House's lawsuit, the California GOP action also accuses California of creating illegal districts specifically designed to discriminate in favor of Hispanic or Latino voters, and against voters of other races and ethnicities.
Both challenges seek to block California from holding elections for the House using a new map approved under Prop 50.
Newsom and his fellow California Democrats launched the Prop 50 initiative this summer, saying California Democrats needed to take emergency action to respond to a move by Republicans - and specifically, Republicans in Texas, with the support of President Trump - to redraw the Lone Star State's House districts to favor the election of Republicans in 2026 and reduce the chances of a midterm Democratic takeover of the U.S. House.
However, the move was highly controversial. The measure required voters to essentially amend the state constitution to "temporarily" give Democratic state lawmakers the power to redraw California's congressional districts in the middle of the decade.
Under the state constitution, the duty of redrawing those districts would normally be delegated at the beginning of each new decade to a nonpartisan independent redistricting commission. The commission is required to use criteria other than partisanship to create the state's congressional districts.
California's districts were most recently redrawn in 2020.
Voters approved Prop 50 in a special election at the beginning of November, appearing to clear the way for the map to be approved.
Before the election, legal challenges to Prop 50 were brushed aside by the Democrat-dominated California Supreme Court and a federal judge, without so much as a hearing.
However, after the election, both California state Republicans and now the Justice Department say courts must take action to address what they say is an illegal gerrymander based largely on race, in violation of constitutional guarantees of equal protection.
In both lawsuits, the state Republicans and Justice Department say California Democrats relied more heavily on race than any other factor.
The complaints noted that state Democrats openly boasted of their efforts to increase Hispanic and Latino representation in Congress, even though California's prior congressional maps were in no way considered to hurt the chances of Hispanics to be elected.
"Race cannot be used as a proxy to advance political interests, but that is precisely what the California General Assembly did with Prop 50," said Jesus A. Osete, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, in a prepared statement in a release announcing the lawsuit.
"Californians were sold an illegal, racially gerrymandered map, but the U.S. Constitution prohibits its use in 2026 and beyond."
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi added: "California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process. Gov. Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not stand."
The release noted that Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon has been recused from the case.
Dhillon's former firm is representing the California Republicans in the other, earlier filed lawsuit.
