GOP Immediately Sues to Block California’s Voter-Approved Congressional Map 

A group of Republicans wasted no time Wednesday filing a lawsuit to block a redistricting measure overwhelmingly passed by California voters just the night before.

It’s the latest of around half a dozen legal actions – so far all of them unsuccessful – aimed at stopping California from countering President Donald Trump’s plan to rig the 2026 election by gerrymandering congressional districts in Republican-controlled states. 

This time, the plaintiffs – including the California Republican Party – argue the state violated the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution by drawing congressional district lines based on race “to favor Hispanic voters.” 

The plaintiffs are asking the court to invalidate the Proposition 50 map.

Republicans have redrawn maps this year at Trump’s urging in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina. California lawmakers asked voters Tuesday to approve a plan that could create five more Democratic seats – a measure intended to offset the five seats Republicans could gain from their Texas redraw. Voters overwhelmingly said yes.

The latest California redistricting challenge was filed in federal court by the Dhillon Law Group, a firm founded by Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who runs the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) civil rights division. The firm has already failed in two attempts to block the California redistricting effort, with the California Supreme Court denying both Republican petitions. 

Federal courts in Texas have dismissed two GOP lawsuits against the California plan. A Republican candidate for California governor’s challenge to the ballot measure in federal court was dismissed Tuesday.