The California Republican Party on Tuesday said it filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court to block the state from using its new congressional map in the 20206 midterm elections.
The move comes after a lower court ruled last week that the map, adopted after Proposition 50 overwhelmingly passed last year, is lawful and can be used.
The California GOP unsuccessfully argued before that court that the map should be blocked because it was racially gerrymandered and favored Latinos over other groups of voters. Two judges on the three-judge panel sided with Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Democrats in Congress, who argued that the map was drawn solely to give their party an advantage after Texas changed its map to benefit Republicans at President Donald Trump‘s public urging.
“The evidence presented reflects that Proposition 50 was exactly what it was billed as: a political gerrymander designed to flip five Republican-held seats to the Democrats,” District Judge Josephine Staton wrote in the majority opinion.
California Republicans are now asking Justice Elena Kagan, the justice assigned to the 9th Circuit, to issue an injunction pending appeal that would temporarily reinstate the 2021 California Redistricting Commission map while the case proceeds. The state GOP asked the court to act by Feb. 9, the start of the candidate filing period. Primary elections are June 2, and the general election is Nov. 3.
“California cannot create districts by race, and the state should not be allowed to lock in districts that break federal law,” California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin said in a statement sent to the Washington Examiner. “Our emergency application asks the Supreme Court to put the brakes on Prop. 50 now, before the Democrats try to run out the clock and force candidates and voters to live with unconstitutional congressional districts. Californians deserve fair districts and clean elections, not a backroom redraw that picks winners and losers based on race.”
Michael Columbo, a partner at Dhillon Law Group representing Republicans, said the case centers on the constitutional limits on using race in redistricting and said the country’s high court has been “clear for decades that states cannot sort voters by race unless they can meet strict scrutiny.”
Newsom, a front-runner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, gained national attention for Proposition 50. He framed the fight as one between California and the Trump administration. California’s constitution requires an independent redistricting commission to draw the map and for voters to approve any changes. That means even though the state legislature passed the map, voters had to choose to use it for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections.
CALIFORNIA’S PROPOSITION 50: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REDISTRICTING VOTE
The new map would put three Republican-held seats into safe Democratic hands and turn two others into those that lean Democratic. Specifically, the map would change the districts held by the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa, as well as those of Reps. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) in Northern California. In Southern California, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Ken Calvert (R-CA) would be at risk, and in the Central Valley, Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) would have a much tougher time getting reelected.
All five Republican lawmakers at risk of losing their seats told the Washington Examiner that the process and speed by which the map was created and passed undermined democratic values.