California is considering redrawing its congressional district maps in response to similar efforts in Texas, but the proposal faces legal challenges from Republicans who claim it violates the state constitution, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.
The Lawsuit alleges that the governor is violating the state constitution by completely amending two other bills into his Election Rigging Response Act (ERRA) and not providing the full 30 days needed to review the new law.
It alleges that Governor Newsom accomplished the proposal of redistricting by simply replacing the bill text in two wholly unrelated bills passed this year and terms the change “amendments” to try and get around the 30-day requirement, in order to meet state deadlines for new candidates to run.
The document also claims the redistricting map was drawn by Democrats “in secret.”
Governor Gavin Newsom's "Election Rigging Response Act" (ERRA) seeks to balance Republican power in Congress, by redistricting California in a way that could result in more Democrat seats in the next midterm election. Right now, Republicans hold the supermajority federally.
"This is strictly a reaction to Greg Abbott and the Texas Republican legislature," said David Fortunato, an associate professor of Public Policy at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego.
If approved by voters on November 4, the new map could change district boundaries and political affiliations in several areas.
“Gerrymandering is when politicians choose their voters instead of voters choosing their politicians,” Fortunato said. “ So we know people's voting tendencies based on the past electoral outcomes at the district level. If you know basically how people are inclined to vote, then you can draw districts that are safer for one party or more difficult for one party to maintain.”
California currently uses an independent commission to decide district lines, but Newsom's proposal would temporarily override that process.
The Emergency Petition asks for a decision from the court by August 20th, since the State Legislature would need to approve a redistricting by the end of the week.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
