The US Department of Justice has joined a lawsuit brought by California Republicans to block the state’s new congressional map, escalating a legal battle over a redistricting effort designed to help Democrats flip House seats in 2026. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, challenges the map championed by Governor Gavin Newsom in response to a Republican gerrymander in Texas sought by Donald Trump.
The intervention sets up a high-profile showdown between the Trump administration and Newsom, one of the president’s chief antagonists and a possible 2028 contender. “California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process,” said US Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not stand.”
Democrats have expressed confidence that the map will withstand legal challenges. “These losers lost at the ballot box and soon they will also lose in court,” said Brandon Richards, a Newsom spokesperson. The lawsuit was filed the morning after California voters approved the redistricting measure, known as Proposition 50, with nearly 65% of the vote. The measure suspended maps drawn by the state’s independent commission and installed new House districts designed to help Democrats secure up to five GOP-held seats.
The plaintiffs assert that the map improperly used race as a factor to favour Hispanic voters in violation of the US Constitution. “Race cannot be used as a proxy to advance political interests, but that is precisely what the California General Assembly did with Prop 50,” said Jesus Osete of the Justice Department’s civil rights division. The plaintiffs are represented by the Dhillon Law Group, founded by Harmeet Dhillon, now assistant attorney general overseeing the civil rights division. Dhillon has been recused from this case.
Former US Attorney General Eric Holder criticised the lawsuit, saying: “It is a shame that the hacks at the highest levels of the justice department are more intent on overturning the results of a free and fair election in California … than they are on releasing the information they fear in the Epstein files.” He added: “Unlike the scheme imposed on the citizens of Texas, Californians just overwhelmingly voted in favour of the state’s new congressional map by nearly 30 percentage points at the ballot box to fight back against Trump’s gerrymandering scheme.”
