California can use new Democratic-friendly congressional map, Supreme Court rules

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court shot down a bid to block California’s new congressional map Wednesday, meaning the state will be able to use the Democratic-favored map in the upcoming midterm elections, likely flipping five Republican seats.

Key facts

• There were no noted dissents and no opinion provided with the Supreme Court order.

• The congressional map was approved by over 7.4 million California voters last year after California Gov. Gavin Newsom spearheaded an effort to counter Republicans redrawing Texas’ congressional map, which could add five Republican seats in the House.

• The Supreme Court upheld the new map in Texas in a 6-3 decision, overturning a lower court ruling that blocked it on grounds of racial gerrymandering.

• Republicans attempted to block the California map on the same grounds but were rejected by a lower court in a 2-1 vote.

Tangent

Other states have become involved in the redistricting battle since last year. Missouri lawmakers passed a Republican-favored congressional map in September that aims to add one GOP seat in the House. North Carolina and Ohio have also passed maps favoring Republicans while other states like Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington are in the process of getting maps passed, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Key background

President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw the state’s congressional map in order to improve the GOP majority in the House, which was 218-213 as of last month. Texas Democrats left the state for weeks in an attempt to prevent the quorum needed to vote on the newly drawn congressional map, facing fines and bribery charges in the process.

Newsom was the first Democratic governor to launch a counter against the Texas redistricting, saying, “We have got to fight fire with fire,” months before California voters approved the state’s new congressional map.

With Republicans’ slim majority in the House, the GOP can only afford two defections if all members are present for a party-line vote. (Source: Forbes)