US justice department joins lawsuit to block California’s new electoral map | Trump administration
ministry of justice on thursday participated in a lawsuit The resolution, introduced by California Republicans to block the state’s new congressional map, escalates a legal battle over a redistricting effort designed to give Democrats a better chance to take back the House of Representatives next year.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, challenges the congressional map that the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, is defending in response to a Republican gerrymander sought by Donald Trump. intervention of the ministry of justice The case is setting up a high-profile showdown between the Trump administration and Newsom, one of the president’s arch-foes and a possible 2028 candidate.
“California’s redistricting plan is a brazen power grab that tramples civil rights and mocks the democratic process,” said U.S. attorney Pam Bondi. “Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not prevail.”
Democrats expressed confidence that the newly approved maps could withstand legal challenges.
“These losers lost at the ballot box and will soon lose in court,” Newsom spokesman Brandon Richards said in a statement.
Republicans filed the lawsuit the morning after California voters decisively approved a redistricting measure known as Proposition 50, which suspended maps drawn by the state’s independent commission and established new House districts designed to help Democrats secure up to five GOP-held districts. seats. It was Democrats’ most significant counterattack in an unprecedented redistricting battle that began in Texas and spread across the country as Trump sought to secure House Republicans’ fragile majority in the final years of his second term.
Plaintiffs claim the California map improperly uses race as a factor that would heavily favor Hispanic voters, a violation of the U.S. constitution. He’s asking a judge to block California from taking effect.
“Race cannot be used as a proxy to advance political interests, but that is exactly what the California General Assembly has done with Proposition 50,” Jesus Osete, the second-ranking official in the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement, citing the lawsuit. “An illegal, racially altered map was sold to Californians, but the U.S. Constitution prohibits its use in 2026 and beyond.”
The plaintiffs are represented by the Dhillon Law Group, founded by Harmeet Dhillon, who is now an assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division. The firm also represented California Republicans in their unsuccessful attempt to block the holding of special elections earlier this year.
The justice department said Dhillon was removed from that case.
Unlike elsewhere, where Republican state legislatures have enacted gerrymandering laws, California’s plan required voter approval, which was received by nearly 10 percent last week. 65% of votes.
Democrats need to flip a few Republican-held seats to take control of the chamber in next year’s midterm elections. The majority party will shape the final years of Trump’s second term in the White House and determine whether a united Republican Congress will continue to deliver on its agenda or whether Trump will face resistance, investigations and possibly even a third impeachment attempt.
