California Republicans quickly filed a federal lawsuit in an effort to block a new gerrymandered House map that was proposed by the state’s Democratic leaders and approved by voters this week—marking the latest salvo in the nationwide redistricting battle ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The legal challenge was filed just one day after California voters approved Proposition 50—a ballot measure that allows a new map that favors Democrats in five additional districts to be implemented through 2030.
The measure was championed by Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom to counter Texas Republicans’ own passage of a gerrymandered map, at the request of President Donald Trump, as the GOP looks to better its chances of maintaining its slim House majority in next year’s elections. Trump called Prop 50 a “giant scam” and claimed the vote was “rigged” on the morning of Election Day, before polls closed.
California Republicans alleged in Wednesday’s lawsuit that the state legislature violated the 14th and 15th Amendments “when it drew new congressional district lines based on race, specifically to favor Hispanic voters, without cause or evidence to justify it.”
Read more: In Major Win for Newsom, California Voters Approve New Congressional Maps to Counter GOP Redistricting
In a Wednesday statement, Newsom’s press office said that officials had not yet read the lawsuit, but asserted that “if it’s from the California Republican Party and Harmeet Dhillon’s law firm, it’s going to fail.” (The lawsuit was filed on state Republicans’ behalf by Dhillon Law Group Inc.; Dhillon, the firm’s founder, is currently serving the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice, a role Trump tapped her for following his reelection.)
The effort to block the new map joins a growing list of legal challenges: Congressional maps have been challenged in 29 states this year.
Here’s what to know about the lawsuit.
Allegations that new districts were drawn to favor Latino voters
The legal complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that California’s new voter-approved map is unconstitutionally discriminatory because it was drawn to favor Latino voters.
“While the Constitution entrusts States with designing congressional districts, the Supreme Court has also held that states may not, without a compelling reason backed by evidence that was in fact considered, separate citizens into different voting districts on the basis of race,” the lawsuit noted.
In it, California Republicans cited a press release from the state legislature that said that Prop 50 would “empower Latino voters to elect their candidates of choice.” They also point to statements made by Democratic officials and a consultant who spoke about drawing districts with Latino majorities.
The plaintiffs noted that race-based redistricting can be justified in some cases under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting.
The complaint argued, however, that Latino voters in California have been able to elect candidates they preferred “without being thwarted by a racial majority voting as a bloc” and that the legislature did not have evidence that the state’s previous congressional map violated the Voting Rights Act because it usually prevented them from doing so.
Therefore, California Republicans alleged, the new map is a result of “unconstitutional racial gerrymandering” that violates both the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the 15th Amendment, which prohibits states from denying or abridging citizens’ right to vote because of their race or color.
The lawsuit asks the court to “invalidate” the map and “require that any future use of race in drawing lines” complies with federal law.
The Supreme Court is currently weighing allegations of racial gerrymandering in a separate case, Louisiana v. Callais, that could have a broader impact on states’ ability to consider race as a factor when drawing House maps. The justices heard arguments regarding the legality of the state’s creation of a second Black-majority district this year, but have not yet issued a decision.
How Democrats have responded to the lawsuit
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries referred to the lawsuit as “frivolous,” claiming that California’s new map does not disadvantage minority voters and is distinct from Texas’, which is expected to flip seats held by Black or Hispanic Congressmen.
“It’s very different,” Jeffries told reporters, “than what the people decided in California, to make sure that they had a fair map.”
Newsom has not issued a public statement on the lawsuit, but responded to criticism from Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who called Prop 50 a “sign of desperation” and “game to
rig the election.”
“Cry harder,” Newsom wrote on X.
