The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the green light for California to utilize a fresh congressional map layout. This choice hurts President Donald Trump’s goal of keeping power in the House of Representatives.
It represents a loss for Republicans who argued that one of the new areas was drawn based on ethnicity instead of political leanings. There were no recorded disagreements, and the justices did not provide a reason for their choice.
Republicans And Democrats Fighting Over Boundaries and Political Gains
The quick request from state Republicans was the most recent move to reach the top court regarding the ongoing battle over changing district lines. This trend was started by Trump to protect the House majority after the mid-term votes. California changed its map—putting five Republican-held spots at risk—as a reaction to map changes in Texas that helped the GOP.
Federal courts usually stay out of fights over drawing lines for political gain. However, California Republicans claimed that racial motives drove the reshaping of a district in the Central Valley between San Francisco and Fresno.
These claims were mostly based on remarks from a map designer, Paul Mitchell, who said out loud that he wanted to “strengthen Latino areas” in the 13th District. The state’s public goal was to gain five House seats for the Democrats to balance out the five seats’ Republicans picked up in Texas.
Voter Support and Legal Deadlines
The map was eventually backed by state citizens in a public vote where 64% of people supported the plan. But the Republicans suing the map hit a major wall. Just weeks ago, the Supreme Court turned down a very similar claim made against the Texas map. In early December, the court backed Texas, allowing that state’s map to be used for this year’s voting.
Justice Samuel Alito mentioned in a supporting opinion that it was “obvious” that the reason for the Texas map (and the one later picked by California) was simply to get a political edge.
Two other conservative judges agreed with him. While the Trump administration supported the lawsuit, they did not file their own fast-track appeal to the high court.
California Republicans wanted a verdict by February 9, which is when candidates start signing up to run. However, Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democrats pointed out that the court usually tells judges not to swap voting rules too close to an election. The state’s first round of voting is set for June 2, and workers told the court they start handling mail-in papers in May.
A group of three lower-court judges had already decided that the map change was a political move. While two judges picked by Democrats made up the majority, a third judge picked by Trump disagreed, pointing to the mapmaker’s words about helping specific ethnic groups as proof of bias.
