Newsom desperately wants attention. But this isn’t what he had in mind.
And Gavin Newsom has egg on his face after trying to rip the Constitution into pieces.
California’s political landscape is heating up as Republican lawmakers and residents have launched a legal challenge against Governor Gavin Newsom’s attempt to redraw the state’s congressional districts. On Monday, they filed a petition with the state Supreme Court, aiming to stop what they call a blatant power grab by Newsom and his Democratic allies.
The battle, led by the Dhillon Law Group, centers on protecting the state’s independent redistricting process and ensuring transparency in how political lines are drawn.
The controversy kicked off on August 14, when Newsom and fellow Democrats announced a bold plan to introduce a constitutional amendment giving the legislature authority to reshape California’s congressional boundaries. Just four days later, on August 18, they rolled out a legislative package to push it forward.
Critics argue this lightning-fast move tramples on the state’s established rules, which were designed to keep redistricting fair and free from partisan influence.
The petition lays out a clear case: California’s constitution hands the redistricting process to an independent citizens redistricting commission, a system created to curb political maneuvering. “The people of California enshrined in their constitution fundamental rules by which they would have the redistricting power undertaken in this state,” the filing declares.
It stresses that the process was intentionally taken out of the legislature’s hands, limited to once every ten years, and built on extensive public input to block partisan gerrymandering.
Democrats’ recent push, condensed into two Assembly bills and a Senate bill, is accused of breaking these principles. The petition points out that the rushed four-day process ignored the state’s requirement for 30 days of public notice for new legislation.
It also claims the proposed amendment violates the “single subject rule” by cramming two conflicting goals into one measure: “petitioning Congress to institute independent citizens redistricting commissions nationwide to draw voting district maps” and “discarding maps created by California’s independent citizen’s redistricting commission to implement legislation and maps developed in secret by unknow members of the legislature.”
Mike Columbo of the Dhillon Law Group put it bluntly: “Days ago, the California Legislature rushed through hundreds of pages of redistricting changes in just four days, an unconstitutional scheme that rips power away from the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission and hands it back to politicians.”
He emphasized that the constitution demands transparency, public engagement, and a once-per-decade timeline—rules he says were completely disregarded. “That is why we’ve gone to the Supreme Court today,” Columbo stated.
State Senator Tony Strickland, a Republican, called the plan “a shining example of why the people took back redistricting in the first place.”
He argued that the Citizens Commission was established to end secretive backroom deals, yet Newsom’s proposal “is forcing Californians to vote in a predetermined election with no transparency, no hearings, and no public input. That’s not democracy—that’s authoritarianism, and I’ll fight it every step of the way.”
Republican Assemblyman Tri Ta added a personal perspective, saying, “I fled a country that never had free elections to come here for freedom.” He called the legislature’s actions “outrageous and a complete violation of the California Constitution.”
Ta also highlighted the financial burden, noting that the proposed special election could cost taxpayers over $200 million at a time when Californians are struggling with issues like affordability, crime, and homelessness.
The petition, filed with a sense of urgency, asks the Supreme Court to act by September 8 to block what it describes as a rogue redistricting effort, partly in response to moves by Texas Republicans.
The Dhillon Law Group, founded by Harmeet Dhillon—who left the firm earlier this year to serve as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice—is leading the charge to defend the rights of California’s citizens.
Stay tuned to Prudent Politics.
