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A federal appeals panel on Wednesday upheld the California ballot initiative that allows temporary changes to congressional district maps designed to benefit Democrats in upcoming elections.
The measure, known as Proposition 50, emerged in response to actions taken in Texas, where Republican leaders sought to adjust congressional districts to increase GOP representation in the US House. As the midterm elections approach, a period when shifts in party control are common, Trump urged Texas officials to redraw their maps to boost Republican seats.
In response, Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democratic leaders in California pushed for a special statewide vote. The election asked residents whether the state should adopt interim district maps aimed at flipping five Republican-held districts, including one formerly represented by the late congressman Doug LaMalfa.
After voters approved Prop 50, Republican opponents challenged the maps in court. They argued that the initiative violated the Voting Rights Act by intentionally crafting districts to advantage Hispanic and Latino voters.
The judges, however, rejected that argument in a 2–1 ruling on Wednesday. Supporters and critics of the measure now expect the dispute to advance to the US supreme court, which previously allowed Texas’s revised district lines to stand.
“Republicans’ weak attempt to silence voters failed,” Newsom said in a statement shortly after the ruling. “California voters overwhelmingly supported Prop 50 – to respond to Trump’s rigging in Texas – and that is exactly what this court concluded.”
In the majority opinion denying a request to pause implementation of the maps, the judges wrote: “The United States fails to show that the voters acted with discriminatory intent.”
The supreme court ruling that partisan gerrymandering claims are not subject to judicial review means Republicans challenging the California maps face the same hurdle Democrats encountered in Texas: demonstrating that race, rather than political affiliation, drove the redistricting process.
In their lawsuit, Republicans cited remarks from Democratic legislators and a redistricting consultant indicating that the plan retained several districts originally created by an independent commission to enhance representation for voters of color. While such districts are permitted under federal law, the lawsuit claimed Democrats failed to follow the proper procedures in maintaining them.
Democrats countered that the racial gerrymandering accusations were unsupported. They pointed to an independent analysis showing no increase in the number of districts with Latino-majority populations. They also highlighted public statements from Newsom and other party leaders asserting that the revised maps were intended to offset Republican advances in Texas, not to target voters based on race.
Two judges – Josephine Staton, appointed by Barack Obama, and Wesley Hsu, appointed by Joe Biden – ruled in California’s favor. Judge Kenneth K Lee, a Trump appointee to the ninth circuit court of appeals, dissented, arguing that Democrats had crafted at least one district in southern California “to prevent Latino voters from drifting away from the party”.
The maps approved under Prop 50 will govern congressional elections in 2026, 2028, and 2030. Since the passage of voter initiatives in 2008 and 2010, California has relied on an independent, citizen-led commission to redraw district lines following each census.
