HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is “reviewing all legal options” after a federal court’s favorable ruling for California’s redistricting efforts, she said on Thursday.
A three-judge district court on Wednesday rejected a Republican attempt to block the state’s new congressional maps, which help Democrats gain more seats in the U.S. House. Two of the three judges voted to deny a request for an injunction against the maps, which the Department of Justice (DOJ) and California Republicans claim are racially based.
“We disagree with yesterday’s 2-1 ruling on California’s redistricting map,” Bondi said in a social media post.
“California impermissibly drew its new congressional map based on race. That’s unconstitutional.”
Judge Josephine Staton, who voted with Judge Wesley Hsu against the preliminary injunction, said in her opinion that the plaintiffs failed to show that the state redrew its maps on racial grounds. Rather, the voters which approved the new districts were simply trying to help Democrats gain five congressional seats currently held by Republicans, the two judges determined.
“Because we find that the evidence of any racial motivation driving redistricting is exceptionally weak, while the evidence of partisan motivations is overwhelming, Challengers are not entitled to preliminary relief on any of their claims,” Staton said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who led the redistricting effort, said in a statement that Republicans’ “weak attempt to silence voters” failed.
“California voters overwhelmingly supported Prop 50 — to respond to Trump’s rigging in Texas — and that is exactly what this court concluded,” he said.
Proposition 50, which contained the congressional maps, passed last November in a special election by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. Newsom announced the bill weeks after Texas began trying to redistrict. President Donald Trump had pressured Texas’s governor and lawmakers to help Republicans win five more House seats.
After Proposition 50’s passage, the Trump administration started describing it as racially based gerrymandering. Creating districts to secure a partisan advantage is more legally acceptable than racial gerrymandering.
“Race cannot be used as a proxy to advance political interests, but that is precisely what the California General Assembly did with Prop 50,” a DOJ official said in November, when the department sued California. “Californians were sold an illegal, racially gerrymandered map, but the U.S. Constitution prohibits its use in 2026 and beyond.”
Judge Kenneth Lee, who voted for the Republican injunction request, agreed with the DOJ’s claims. He said in his dissent that California Democrats wanted to curry favor with some demographics, like Latinos, to secure their vote ahead of upcoming elections.
“But our Constitution does not allow the government to engage in such a racial spoils system. Race-based policies ‘embody stereotypes that treat individuals as the product of their race, evaluating their thoughts and efforts – their very worth as citizens – according to a criterion barred to the Government by history and the Constitution,’” Lee wrote, quoting a Supreme Court opinion.
Have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Ray at rjlewis@sbgtv.com.
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