President Donald Trump's Justice Department is joining a last-ditch lawsuit in federal court to try to overturn Proposition 50 — the recently passed ballot referendum in California that temporarily suspends the state's independent redistricting commission and passes a map that redraws five Republican seats to favor Democrats, to counteract Texas Republicans' plan that targets five Democratic seats there.
“California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement. “Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not stand.”
The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that because Congress has not passed a law regulating the issue, partisan gerrymandering cases are political questions that cannot be heard by federal courts. However, gerrymanders can still be struck down if they are found to illegally discriminate on a racial basis, although a Supreme Court case heard this term could potentially scale even this enforcement back considerably.
The lawsuit the DOJ joins, initially filed by the California Republican Party, argues that Proposition 50 racially gerrymandered seats to favor Hispanic voters.
However, experts and observers on social media dismissed the suit as a meritless complaint that would go nowhere.
"Just like in the 2020 election, the GOP can’t accept rejection," wrote Fox News' resident liberal commentator Jessica Tarlov.
".@AGPamBondi - fixed it for you. '‘Texas’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process,’ Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an emailed statement. ‘Governor Abbott’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Texans will not stand,’'" wrote Texas congressional candidate Christian Menefee.
"The same Justice Department that *helped* Texas Republicans rig their congressional maps?" wrote People For the American Way political director Markus Batchelor.
California political commentator Vance Ulrich exposed how flimsy the lawsuit was, pointing out the Justice Department didn't even put the correct name for the California state legislature, calling it the "California General Assembly."
"From the DOJ lawsuit against Prop 50: I’ve been following CA politics a long time, but I never realized the CA Legislature was a 'General Assembly.' This is not North Carolina. Not sending their best!"
Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom's press office had a simple retort: "These losers lost at the ballot box and soon they will also lose in court."