The Justice Department sued California on Thursday to block newly approved congressional boundaries, joining a fast-moving court battle that could help decide which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, targets a new congressional map enacted through Proposition 50, a constitutional amendment California voters overwhelmingly approved last week. The ballot measure gave Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom authority to overhaul district lines in response to a similar Republican effort in Texas backed by President Donald Trump.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the DOJ was intervening to stop “a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process.”
“Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not stand,” Bondi said in a statement.
The lawsuit argues that California racially gerrymandered its new map by prioritizing Latino population targets and using race as a proxy to guarantee partisan advantage in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Federal prosecutors asked the court to block the state from using the map in the 2026 midterm elections.
“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 Osete, the DOJ’s principal deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights. “Californians were sold an illegal, racially gerrymandered map, but the U.S. Constitution prohibits its use in 2026 and beyond.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, whose office will help handle the case, said the department was “moving swiftly to prevent these illegal maps from tainting our upcoming elections.”
Today we filed a motion to intervene in the Prop 50 lawsuit.
The race-based gerrymandered maps passed by the California legislature are unlawful and unconstitutional. We are moving swiftly to prevent these illegal maps from tainting our upcoming elections.
California is free… https://t.co/xl6HdcgwH0
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) November 13, 2025
In an X post, Essayli added, “California is free to draw congressional maps, but they may not be drawn based on race.”
A high-stakes fight between two largest states
Proposition 50 would give Democrats a chance to flip as many as five Republican-held districts next year, the same number of districts Texas Republicans are targeting in their own redistricting maneuver, supported by Trump. The showdown between California and Texas has quickly spread nationwide, with a growing list of states, including Missouri and Ohio, reexamining or redrawing district lines to secure partisan advantage before the 2026 midterm elections.
Democrats need only a few seats to reclaim the House majority. Republicans currently hold 219 seats, while Democrats hold 214.
The national implications of Prop 50 were evident in the tens of millions of dollars poured into the ballot fight, including a $5 million contribution to opponents from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a GOP-aligned super PAC tied to House Speaker Mike Johnson, according to the Associated Press.
Newsom’s office framed the ballot measure as a necessary counterweight to Republican-led district changes in Texas. But the DOJ says the amendment’s new process, which shifts map-drawing authority from the state’s independent redistricting commission to the legislature, was used to engineer race-based districts for partisan ends.
Substantial evidence in the legislative record, the DOJ said, showed that “Latino demographics and racial considerations predominated” during the drafting process, according to a press release from the DOJ.
Bondi sharpened the political tone further in an additional statement on Thursday, saying, “Newsom should be concerned about keeping Californians safe and shutting down Antifa violence, not rigging his state for political gain.”
Inside the California GOP lawsuit
The department’s motion to intervene is being filed in Tangipa et al. v. Newsom, a case brought last week by the California Republican Party. The DOJ’s filing mirrors several of the GOP plaintiffs’ claims, including that the map violates Supreme Court precedent prohibiting states from making race the predominant factor in drawing congressional districts unless “narrowly tailored” to satisfy the Voting Rights Act, according to the DOJ’s suit.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has recused herself from the matter, likely due to the original plaintiffs being represented by the firm she founded, the Dhillon Law Group. Osete will represent the Civil Rights Division on the case.
In statements emailed to the Washington Examiner, California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin and lead plaintiffs’ attorney Mike Columbo said they welcomed the DOJ’s support behind the case.
“This lawsuit is about a basic promise: the color of your skin should never be used by politicians to decide how much your voice counts at the ballot box,” said Rankin.
When reached for comment about the lawsuit, a spokesperson for Newsom, Brandon Richards, said, “These losers lost at the ballot box and soon they will also lose in court.”
NEWSOM’S BIG PROPOSITION 50 WIN TURNS HIM TO LEADING 2028 WHITE HOUSE CONTENDER
The lawsuit adds another layer to the public feud between the Trump administration and Newsom, a Democrat widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.
A ruling in California could come as early as next spring, setting the contours of one of the most closely watched political maps in the country before the 2026 midterm elections.