California Democrats have just admitted to a brazen power grab: they drew a new congressional map that guarantees Hispanic super-majorities in 16 districts—up from 14—elevating racial advantage over equal representation. This isn’t redistricting. It’s raw racial engineering, and California Republicans have moved swiftly to stop it.
On Wednesday, the California Republican Party, led by state Rep. David Tangipa and backed by 18 voters, filed a federal lawsuit naming Governor Gavin Newsom and the Democratic supermajority. The complaint charges that Proposition 50 blatantly violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the 15th Amendment’s ban on race-based voting restrictions.
Democrats claim they simply want “fair representation.” The evidence says otherwise. By packing two additional districts with guaranteed Hispanic majorities, they disenfranchise Asian Americans, African Americans, Pacific Islanders—and millions of white voters. This map was drawn with one goal: lock in Democratic control of California’s 52 House seats.
“This is unconstitutional reverse discrimination,” declares Mike Columbo of the Dhillon Law Group. “When the chief map consultant admits his priority was to ‘boost Latino power,’ you’ve crossed the color line drawn by the Constitution.” Columbo made those remarks at a high-profile press conference where he slammed Democrats for substituting racial quotas for voter equality.
The lawsuit points to the 1986 Supreme Court “Gingles Test,” which lays out three strict requirements for race-based districts. California’s new map fails every one. Hispanics are the single largest ethnic group in the state; they are not a legally protected minority here. You cannot claim “vote dilution” when you’re cherry-picking race at the expense of every other community.
Harmeet Dhillon—a Trump-appointed Civil Rights Division leader with decades of courtroom triumphs—has assembled a legal dream team. Partner Mark Meuser, the GOP’s recent Senate nominee, argues that no court has ever allowed a state to use race as its bluntest instrument in redistricting when that racial bloc alone dictates the outcome.
Rep. Tangipa, California’s first Polynesian legislator, called the map “a dagger aimed at our state’s diversity.” He warned that Democrats have traded genuine community representation for a cynical scheme to cement power in Sacramento and Washington.
With Proposition 50 approved 64% to 36%, Democrats congratulate themselves—until the federal courts step in. The GOP suit demands an immediate injunction, a redraw under neutral, race-blind principles, and a clear message: racial gerrymandering is a constitutional dead end.
The battle now moves to a federal courtroom, likely through the Ninth Circuit and, if necessary, to the Supreme Court. If California Democrats think they can flout the 14th and 15th Amendments with impunity, they’ll find out the hard way that our Constitution is color-blind, and so is justice.
