California Republicans Sue Again to Block Newsom Redistricting

California Republican lawmakers sued over the state’s impending special election to redraw its congressional map to add additional Democratic seats, arguing Democrats violated the state constitution.

The emergency petition filed Monday before the California Supreme Court said Democrats’ push for a new map runs counter to the California Constitution’s requirement that maps be made by a independent redistricting committee.

“The Constitution’s guardrails on redistricting are essential to ensuring that Californians are spared from the political influence and inherent turbulence” of the state legislature, the petition said.

Californians are set to vote Nov. 4 on a redrawn congressional map that could flip as many as five GOP-held House seats in next year’s midterms. The plan has been championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to counter a President Donald Trump-backed plan in Texas to add up to five GOP House members there.

The petition asks the state Supreme Court for an order prohibiting the state’s top election official, Secretary of State Shirley Weber (D), from putting the map up for a vote.

An earlier lawsuit from Republican legislators wasn’t enough to block lawmakers from approving the plan. California Supreme Court justices issued a two-sentence ruling last week that the lawmakers failed to show the plan should be halted.

Republicans had challenged Democratic lawmakers’ use of the “gut-and-amend” tactic, saying it circumvented the public’s right for a thirty-day notice period. However, they specified they weren’t challenging gut-and-amend—where an unrelated bill is inserted under a number that has already been published—in all cases.

Dhillon Law Group represents the plaintiffs.

The case is Sanchez v. Weber, Cal., No. S292592, emergency petition filed 8/25/25.