President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday sued California over its new redistricting maps after a ballot measure adopting new congressional districts passed last week, according to documents filed in federal court.
The measure could give the Democrat-led U.S. state five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and was aimed as a counterweight to Republican efforts to give their party more congressional seats in Texas and elsewhere.
The Justice Department intervened as a plaintiff in a Nov. 5 lawsuit by the California Republican Party and 19 registered voters in the state.
The case challenges California's ballot initiative Proposition 50, which passed earlier this month. The measure was a response to Republican-led Texas redrawing its congressional map.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a post on X on Thursday chided California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom over what she called "his brazen Proposition 50 redistricting power grab."
© 2025 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.