The Justice Department on Thursday joined a lawsuit seeking to block California’s new congressional map, the latest chapter in a nationwide redistricting battle sparked by President Donald Trump’s push for red states to add more Republican-leaning districts ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
California’s new congressional map was implemented via ballot measure during the Nov. 4 election, gaining the approval of nearly 65 percent of California voters. The measure allowed Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to circumvent the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission to redraw the map for three elections but returns redistricting authority to the commission after the 2030 census.
The Justice Department on Thursday joined a lawsuit seeking to block California’s new congressional map, the latest chapter in a nationwide redistricting battle sparked by President Donald Trump’s push for red states to add more Republican-leaning districts ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
California’s new congressional map was implemented via ballot measure during the Nov. 4 election, gaining the approval of nearly 65 percent of California voters. The measure allowed Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to circumvent the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission to redraw the map for three elections but returns redistricting authority to the commission after the 2030 census.
“Newsom should be concerned about keeping Californians safe and shutting down Antifa violence, not rigging his state for political gain,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a post on X.
The Justice Department is joining a suit filed in federal court this month by California Assembly member David Tangipa (R), who alleged in his filing that the new congressional map, which adds five more Democratic-leaning districts, violates the 14th and 15th Amendments’ protections against racial gerrymandering.
Bondi filed a motion to join the case Thursday, asserting that the case is “of general public importance.” The Justice Department declined to comment on the suit. Representatives for Newsom didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Newsom and Democrats in California’s legislature set out to redistrict to counteract Texas’s new congressional map, drawn at Trump’s behest to shore up or expand the Republicans’ narrow House majority next year. In addition to Texas, which approved a new map in August, the GOP has drawn new maps in Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats have kicked off a months-long process to draw a new Virginia congressional map and are trying to block the Missouri map from taking effect.
Other states are discussing redistricting, but The Post previously reported some Republican resistance to those efforts in Indiana and Kansas, while some Democrats have pushed back against new maps in Illinois and Maryland.
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