California Republican Party asks Supreme Court to halt new congressional map

David Lightman, McClatchy Washington Bureau on Jan 20, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The California Republican Party on Tuesday filed an emergency application asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the redrawing of congressional boundaries authorized by Proposition 50.

The state GOP filing could be the last stop for the effort to block the redrawing. The new lines are aimed at adding five Democratic House seats in the November election.

Democrats now control 43 of the state’s 52 seats. Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed Proposition 50, and voters agreed last year, as a counter to Texas’ new lines, which are designed to add five Republican seats. Democrats need a net gain of three seats nationwide to regain control of the House next year.

The state Republican filing asks Justice Elena Kagan, who is assigned to the 9th Circuit, which includes California, to issue an injunction pending an appeal that would temporarily reinstate the map that now governs the boundaries.

The GOP seeks to have the court act by Feb. 9, as it cited the beginning of the state’s candidate filing period.

The Republican argument

“California cannot create districts by race, and the state should not be allowed to lock in districts that break federal law,” said California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin.

She said she wanted the court to act “before the Democrats try to run out the clock and force candidates and voters to live with unconstitutional congressional districts. Californians deserve fair districts and clean elections, not a backroom redraw that picks winners and losers based on race.”

In a statement, Michael Columbo, a partner at Dhillon Law Group, which filed the application, said it emphasizes constitutional limits on using race in redistricting.

“The Supreme Court has been clear for decades that states cannot sort voters by race unless they can meet strict scrutiny,” Columbo said.

The filing, he said, “explains why the record includes direct admissions and supporting evidence that race predominated in key line-drawing decisions, and why immediate, temporary relief is warranted to prevent candidates and voters from being forced to operate under unconstitutional districts while the appeal is pending.”

The new map was challenged in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The court denied a preliminary injunction and injunction pending appeal last week.

The party Tuesday cited the dissent of Judge Kenneth Lee, who said the state “sullied its hands” by engaging in racial gerrymandering.

But the majority in the three judge panel found that the challengers “have failed to show that racial gerrymandering occurred, and we conclude that there is no basis for issuing a preliminary injunction.”

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