By Chris Walker
This text was initially printed by Truthout
Proposition 50 obtained help from 63.8 p.c of California voters.
California Republicans are suing state officers in hopes of invalidating a poll initiative that handed on Tuesday, which is aimed toward combating the consequences of a nationwide Republican gerrymandering scheme.
The initiative, often known as Proposition 50, seeks to briefly droop California’s unbiased redistricting fee to be able to craft maps that might possible give Democrats a further 5 seats within the Home of Representatives following the 2026 midterm races.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) promoted the thought in response to the proposal and passage of recent maps by Republicans in states throughout the nation — a gerrymandering scheme by the GOP and President Donald Trump’s political crew to mitigate losses in subsequent yr’s elections, with hopes of retaining the Home for Republicans.
With over 6 million ballots now counted, 63.8 p.c of California voters backed the measure in Tuesday evening’s election, with solely 36.2 p.c voting in opposition to it.
On Wednesday, mere hours after the vote occurred, Republicans sued in federal courtroom to invalidate the brand new maps, arguing that they violate the 14th and fifteenth amendments to the U.S. Structure by unfairly gerrymandering and giving Latinx voters a supposedly undue political benefit.
The California Republican Celebration, Assemblymember David Tangipa and 18 state residents are listed as plaintiffs within the lawsuit. Newsom and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber are named as defendants.
“Hispanics make up probably the most voters within the state. … Hispanics have had unbelievable success in electing candidates of their alternative,” mentioned Mike Columbo, a lawyer for the plaintiffs who works for a regulation agency based by Republican activist Harmeet Dhillon.
Responding to the lawsuit, Newsom’s workplace indicated that they had been assured the brand new maps would maintain as much as judicial scrutiny.
“We haven’t reviewed the lawsuit, but when it’s from the California Republican Celebration and Harmeet Dhillon’s regulation agency, it’s going to fail,” a spokesperson for Newsom mentioned.
Republicans have certainly sued the state beforehand, hoping to dam Proposition 50 from even being allowed on the statewide poll. Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a regulation professor at Harvard, instructed The New York Occasions that he, too, is skeptical that California Republicans can be profitable in blocking the brand new maps.
“If there’s a correctly adopted map and there’s some uncertainty over the regulation, sometimes the map will keep in impact, and it’s the plaintiffs’ case that can be deferred or delayed till there’s some decision of the authorized normal,” Stephanopoulos mentioned.
However the brand new maps may very well be upended sooner or later, even earlier than the 2026 midterms, if the Supreme Court docket guidelines a sure means in a case involving Part 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which permits the redrawing of maps to contemplate race to be able to support marginalized communities in getting correct illustration in Congress. In a listening to on the case final month, the courtroom appeared more likely to overturn that rule.
Consultants say that the Supreme Court docket probably undermining Part 2 of the Voting Rights Act could not solely have an effect on California’s maps, however political boundaries in different states, too.
“If the excessive courtroom finds Part 2 unconstitutional, we could effectively see the elimination of the 11 Black-majority districts — all Democratic — in Republican-controlled Southern states,” Marjorie Cohn, professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson College of Regulation and dean of the Folks’s Academy of Worldwide Regulation, wrote in an op-ed for Truthout in August.
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