LOS ANGELES – The California State Supreme Court denied a challenge from Republican state lawmakers to block Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to redistrict California’s congressional map.
An Aug. 20 order from six of the seven justices said that Sens. Tony Strickland and Suzette Martinez Valladares along with Assemblymembers Tri Ta and Kathryn Sanchez “failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief.”
The order showed no dissents but said that Justice Carol Corrigan, the only Republican appointee on the court, was absent and did not participate.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, Aug. 18, challenged the bills to put the proposal to a vote in a Nov. 4 special election on California State Constitutional grounds, claiming that the initiative did not meet the 30-day threshold between being introduced in the chambers and the legislature voting on them.
Legislative records show that lawmakers used the so-called “gut-and-amend” method on two previously unrelated bills in the State Assembly and Senate to create the Election Rigging Response Act. The original bills were introduced more than 30 days ago.
The bills would require a two-thirds majority in both houses to pass and would put the proposed maps, which aim to flip five Republican held seats in the House of Representatives, to a vote in a Nov. 4 special election.
California has an independent redistricting commission that is designed to limit partisan influence on the map-drawing process, but Newsom said the measure would allow a new process to draw maps that would go into effect for House elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030, before ceding power back to the commission to draw maps ahead of 2032.
California currently has 43 congressional seats held by Democrats and nine by Republicans. The creation of five new Democratic-friendly districts could sway California’s delegation to a 48-5 advantage for Democrats.
Martinez Valladares, the Santa Clarita Senator, told USA TODAY in an Aug. 21 statement that the legislators would continue to fight the redistricting push.
“California voters chose district lines drawn in the open, not engineered by politicians to serve themselves or their partisan agenda. All voters deserve fair, transparent elections and we will never give up fighting for that,” she said.
Contributing: Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: California redistricting challenge stopped by state’s Supreme Court
