XPost: law.court.federal, sac.politics, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   LOS ANGELES – The Justice Department announced today that it filed legal   
   action against Governor Gavin Newsom and Secretary of State Shirley   
   Weber for the State of California’s newly adopted redistricting plan   
   enacted with the passage of Proposition 50.   
      
   The lawsuit alleges that the plan mandates racially gerrymandered   
   congressional districts in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of   
   the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.   
      
   Proposition 50 amends the California Constitution, allowing the   
   legislature to draw a new congressional-district map. Substantial   
   evidence, including that in the legislative record and public   
   statements, indicate that the legislature created a new map in which   
   Latino demographics and racial considerations predominated, in violation   
   of the Equal Protection Clause.   
      
   “The race-based gerrymandered maps passed by the California legislature   
   are unlawful and unconstitutional,” said First Assistant United States   
   Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California. “The U.S.   
   Department of Justice is moving swiftly to prevent these illegal maps   
   from tainting our upcoming elections. California is free to draw   
   congressional maps, but they may not be drawn based on race.”   
      
   “California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples   
   on civil rights and mocks the democratic process,” said Attorney General   
   Pamela Bondi. “Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and   
   silence millions of Californians will not stand.”   
      
   “Race cannot be used as a proxy to advance political interests, but that   
   is precisely what the California General Assembly did with Prop 50,”   
   said Jesus A. Osete, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for   
   Civil Rights. “Californians were sold an illegal, racially gerrymandered   
   map, but the U.S. Constitution prohibits its use in 2026 and beyond.”   
      
   The Department’s motion to intervene in Tangipa, et al. v. Newsom, et   
   al. is pending before the U.S. District Court for the Central District   
   of California.   
      
   Assistant United States Attorney Julie A. Hamill of the Civil Division’s   
   Civil Rights Section and Trial Attorneys David Goldman, Joshua R.   
   Zuckerman, and Greta Gieseke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights   
   Division are representing the United States in this matter.   
      
   Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon has been recused from this   
   case. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jesus A. Osete will   
   represent the Department on this matter.   
      
   Contact   
   Ciaran McEvoy   
   Public Information Officer   
   ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov   
   (213) 894-4465   
      
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