Federal Judges Allow California Congressional Map To Stand

SACRAMENTO, California — California Democrats will likely be able to use their gerrymandered congressional map in next year’s midterm elections after a panel of federal judges on Wednesday upheld it.

In a 2-1 ruling, the panel rejected a request to block the map from the California Republican Party and Donald Trump’s Justice Department, which sued the state after voters in November approved new boundaries, drawn in a bid to create five additional blue seats.

Judge Josephine Staton, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote the ruling, with Judge Kenneth Lee, a Trump appointee, dissenting. Joe Biden appointed Judge Wesley Hsu joined Staton in her ruling.

“We find that Challengers have failed to show that racial gerrymandering occurred, and we conclude that there is no basis for issuing a preliminary injunction,” Staton wrote. “Our conclusion probably seems obvious to anyone who followed the news in the summer and fall of 2025.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom cheered the ruling, saying, “Republicans’ weak attempt to silence voters failed.”

“California voters overwhelmingly supported Prop 50 – to respond to Trump’s rigging in Texas – and that is exactly what this court concluded,” he said in a statement.

Democratic leaders initiated the redistricting effort and special election this summer after Trump urged Texas to carve out five new red districts.

Republicans and the DOJ alleged California Democrats engaged in racial gerrymandering when they drew the new map. But attorneys for Newsom, Secretary of State Shirley Weber and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee argued the redistricting effort was undertaken for partisan purposes, not to benefit any racial group.

It seemed likely the judges would uphold the state’s map after the Supreme Court allowed Texas’ new congressional map to stand in a ruling that invoked California.

“… It is indisputable the impetus for the adoption of the Texas map (like the map subsequently adopted in California) was partisan advantage pure and simple,” the high court’s ruling said.

The GOP or DOJ could seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court, but experts have said the high court would be unlikely to step in, given their ruling on the Texas map.