The Trump Administration’s Justice Department has stepped directly into California politics — and not a moment too soon. The DOJ has officially filed a federal lawsuit to block the newly approved congressional map created under Proposition 50, calling it a blatant attempt by Democrats to rig future elections and undermine the Constitution.
According to the filing, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department argues that California’s Democrat-controlled Legislature violated constitutional rights and engaged in racial and partisan gerrymandering when it seized redistricting powers from the state’s independent citizens’ commission. The move, the DOJ contends, was designed to tilt the 2026 election in favor of Democrats and could hand them up to five extra House seats — enough to flip control of Congress.
At the center of the controversy is Proposition 50, a ballot measure passed by voters in November. The measure temporarily stripped California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission of its power and handed full control of congressional map-drawing to the Democrat-dominated Legislature for the election cycles of 2026, 2028, and 2030.
Critics warned for months that Prop 50 was nothing more than a Trojan horse for partisan manipulation, a power grab disguised as “reform.” Opponents said it would allow Sacramento politicians to carve out safe districts for Democratic incumbents while silencing millions of Republican and independent voters.
Those warnings, it turns out, were spot on.
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