"Attorneys for the California Republican Party and the Trump administration's Department of Justice during the hearing recapped the argument they made in their legal complaint, accusing Democratic legislators and redistricting experts of racial gerrymandering that illegally favored Latinos. The state's legal representatives, meanwhile, argued their primary goal was not racial but political - they worked to weaken Republicans' voting power in California to offset similar gerrymandering in Texas and other GOP-led states."
"The GOP has repeatedly seized on public comments from Paul Mitchell, a redistricting expert for California's Democratic-led Legislature who designed the Proposition 50 congressional districts, that "the No. 1 thing" he started thinking about was "drawing a replacement Latino majority/minority district in the middle of Los Angeles." On Wednesday, District Court Judge Josephine Staton suggested that GOP attorneys focused too much on the intent of Mitchell and Democratic legislators and not enough on the voters who ultimately approved Proposition 50."
Three federal judges questioned attorneys for Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Republican Party in a pivotal legal case that will decide the fate of California's voter-approved congressional districts for the 2026 midterms. Attorneys for the California Republican Party and the Department of Justice accused Democratic legislators and redistricting experts of racial gerrymandering that illegally favored Latinos. State legal representatives countered that the mapmakers' aim was political: to weaken Republican voting power in California in response to gerrymandering in GOP-led states. Judges challenged those narratives and probed whether voter approval of Proposition 50 undercuts intent-based claims. Nearly two-thirds of California voters approved Proposition 50.
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