SACRAMENTO — California Republicans once more requested the state Supreme Court docket on Monday to dam Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting plan from the November poll, arguing that the swiftly assembled initiative violates the state Structure.
In a 432-page lawsuit, Republican lawmakers mentioned the hassle by Democrats to unwind the state’s nonpartisan congressional districts is a violation of Californians’ rights to honest and nonpartisan electoral maps. The occasion made an analogous argument final week in an emergency petition to the state Supreme Court docket that was denied with out a listening to.
The poll measure was crafted by Democrats as a retaliatory strike towards the GOP-led Texas Legislature, which has handed new congressional districts that will assist Republicans decide up 5 seats within the 2026 midterm elections.
The California plan, which is headed to voters Nov. 4 beneath the identify Proposition 50, would throw out the state’s nonpartisan maps in favor of boundaries that will tilt the scales for Democrats.
The lawsuit filed Monday towards California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber and the state Legislature argues that the poll measure is definitely asking voters to reply two questions: first, whether or not Congress ought to amend the U.S. Structure to require impartial redistricting nationwide; and second, whether or not to scrap the nonpartisan districts within the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections in favor of partisan strains that assist Democrats.
That double-barreled query is an “unlawful, take-it-or-leave-it selection,” mentioned Michael Columbo, an legal professional for the plaintiffs, that “forces an individual in favor of impartial commissions right into a conundrum” and violates the state structure, which limits poll measures to a single situation.
That argument is “weak,” mentioned David A. Carrillo, the manager director of Berkeley Legislation’s California Structure Middle.
“The frequent topic right here clearly is redistricting,” Carrillo mentioned.
President Trump mentioned Monday that the Justice Division will sue California over the plan “fairly quickly, and I believe we’re going to be very profitable in it.” He didn’t clarify what authorized standing the administration must problem the state Legislature.
In a publish on the social media website X, Newsom mentioned of the Trump risk: “BRING IT.”
A spokesperson for Weber mentioned the division had no touch upon the lawsuit.
“Trump’s toadies already obtained destroyed as soon as in court docket,” mentioned Hannah Milgrom, a spokesperson for the Sure on 50 marketing campaign, in a press release. “Now they’re attempting once more, to guard Trump’s energy seize and stop voters from having their say on Prop 50. They’ll lose.”
The lawsuit additionally argues that the state Legislature violated the state Structure by proposing new congressional districts, even supposing voters in 2010 handed a measure giving that energy to an impartial panel.
Republicans argue that with the intention to adjust to the state’s present redistricting legal guidelines, Democrats ought to have first requested voters to droop impartial redistricting, then handed new maps afterward.
On the coronary heart of the authorized struggle, Carrillo mentioned, is voters’ great energy to amend the California Structure, together with who drafts the state’s congressional districts.
“Voters gave this energy to the fee they created,” Carrillo mentioned. “The voters can subsequently modify or withdraw the ability they conferred.”
The California Supreme Court docket has often eliminated voter initiatives from the poll, Carrillo mentioned, nevertheless it’s uncommon, controversial and reserved for probably the most excessive instances. It’s “not possible the court docket would attain for the nuclear possibility,” he mentioned.
Additionally Monday, opponents of the poll measure filed a public data act request with state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, in search of communications between his workplace, Newsom and outstanding Democratic strategists about how Prop. 50 will seem on the poll.
The group, fashioned by former Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield and run by former California GOP chair Jessica Millan Patterson, mentioned Democrats had known as for transparency and ought to supply it too.
“Voters need to know if these prime Democrats are actively attempting to place their thumb on the size for a way their partisan energy seize shall be portrayed in what must be an neutral evaluation,” Patterson mentioned.
Occasions workers author Seema Mehta contributed to this report.
