‘X-Acto Knife Job’: Court Hears Claims Newsom Gerrymandering Maps Were Sliced By Race

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A three-judge panel heard the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and California Republican Party’s witnesses on Monday, accusing the state’s new congressional maps of being drawn based on race.

Just a day after voters approved Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s gerrymandered maps, known as Proposition 50, the state’s GOP filed a lawsuit against Newsom, Secretary of State Shirley Weber and others tied to the map. Following the initial filing, the DOJ joined the case, bringing it before U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton, U.S. Circuit Judge Kenneth K. Lee and U.S. District Judge Wesley L. Hsu to request a temporary restraining order by Dec. 19.

The full-day hearing kicked off the DOJ and California Republicans fight against the state’s new maps. The plaintiffs, led by attorney Mark Meuser, who has been with Dhillon Law Group since 2017, first called RealClearPolitics senior elections analyst Sean Trende to the stand.

In his testimony to the court, Trende laid out his analysis of the new congressional maps, saying race was a driving factor in carving out Congressional District 13. According to the new maps, CD-13 now includes a portion of the Stockton area, which Trende described as an unusual “plume” in the new map, adding roughly 100,000 more residents to the district.

Trende offered three demonstration maps for CD-13, which he confirmed to the judges were drawn without race in mind. According to Trende’s testimony, the senior elections analyst stated that while districts can be drawn for various reasons, including, to some degree, race under the Voting Rights Act, the district appears to cut heavily into Hispanic areas while bypassing Democratic ones.