The Supreme Court decided not to take up a challenge to California’s plan to draw five Democrat-favored seats for its congressional maps this November, and until 2030, when new census data is released.
The gerrymandering effort was done as a political counter to Texas adding five Republican-favored seats to its congressional maps, which the Supreme Court also said could move forward.
“Donald Trump said he was ‘entitled’ to five more Congressional seats in Texas. He started this redistricting war. He lost, and he’ll lose again in November,” Gov. Gavin Newsom, who led the charge on the Prop. 50 ballot measure to redraw the maps, said in an X post on Wednesday. California voters passed Prop. 50 in November with over 64% support, as Democrats touted it as “a direct response to a Republican power grab orchestrated by President Trump and state leaders in Texas,” according to the California Democratic Party website.
Mid-decade redistricting has now taken place in red and blue states throughout the country, but legal battles in states like Virginia are still taking place in a last-ditch effort to get more partisan maps.
The midterm elections are in November, and Republicans currently hold only a one-seat majority in the chamber, leaving Democrats hopeful that they would be able to flip it in order to counter President Donald Trump in the second half of his term.
The emergency request to the court was filed on Jan. 20, according to Dhillon Law Group attorney Mark Meuser at the time. The Golden State’s legal challenge had the backing of the California Republican Party.
“This filing asks the Court to temporarily block California from using the Proposition 50 map in the 2026 elections while the case is on appeal. If the Court grants relief, California would instead use the prior Citizens Redistricting Commission map for the 2026 Elections,” Meuser posted to X.
In both the Texas and California cases, legal opponents cited racial concerns.
“This violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law, and the right under the 15th Amendment to not have one’s vote abridged on account of race,” Dhillon Law Group partner Mike Columbo said at a press conference when the California lawsuit was announced back in November, The Daily Wire reported. “When drawing the Proposition 50 map, the chief consultant who drew the map has stated that the first thing that he did was to increase the power of Latino voters.”
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on Louisiana v. Callais this year, which could upend parts of the Voting Rights Act and potentially give Republicans more leverage to redraw seats in their favor, including in the southern United States.
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