DOJ Seeks to Back GOP’s California Redistricting Lawsuit

LATE UPDATE, 11/14: The DOJ was granted motion to intervene and support the GOP’s challenge.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion Thursday to intervene in a Republican lawsuit aimed at blocking California’s new congressional map, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters last week.

Californians approved Proposition 50, a plan to redraw the state’s congressional map in response to President Donald Trump’s nationwide efforts to pick up more Republican congressional seats. Unlike in GOP-controlled states that have enacted new maps at Trump’s demand, California law required Democrats to get voter approval before their plan could go into effect.  

The plaintiffs – including the California Republican Party – argued the state violated the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by drawing congressional district lines based on race “to favor Hispanic voters.”

The DOJ claimed in its new complaint that California lawmakers used race as a proxy to advance political interests, and argued the map drawer’s first priority was to create a new majority-Latino district.

“The end result is a map that manipulates district lines in the name of bolstering the voting power of Hispanic Californians because of their race,” the complaint stated, adding: “[T]he professed goal of increasing Democratic representation was subordinated to increasing Hispanic-majority districts.”

California’s new plan is a racial gerrymander that violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the DOJ argued. 

DOJ also asked the court to declare that Proposition 50 was adopted “with the purpose of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.” 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s motion to intervene in the case was granted Wednesday.*

The California lawsuit was filed by the Dhillon Law Group, a firm founded by Harmeet Dhillon, who now runs the DOJ’s civil rights division. The firm previously filed two GOP attempts to block the California redistricting effort. The California Supreme Court denied both petitions. 

Dhillon “would be recused from getting involved” in the Proposition 50 challenge because of her connection to the law firm, she told a conservative journalist in an interview last week. 

“But there may be other original cases that we can bring to bear,” Dhillon continued. “So we’re going to take a look at it and we’re going to see. It is so fresh, I suspect evidence is going to come out regarding the allegation- I understand from the press, is that there is a racial aspect of the line drawing.”

Dhillon added that the California map could be impacted when the U.S. Supreme Court rules in the landmark redistricting case Louisiana v. Callais. 

Jesus A. Osete, Dhillon’s second in command at the civil rights division, said in a social media post Thursday, “Californians were sold an illegal, racially gerrymandered map, but the U.S. Constitution prohibits its use in 2026 and beyond.” 

Osete then told California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that he would see him in court.

*The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is represented in the lawsuit by the Elias Law Group (ELG). ELG Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.