The lawsuit in opposition to the Proposition 50 map argues the brand new strains had been designed to maximise the voting energy of Latino residents, thereby violating the equal safety and voting rights of non-Latino voters. The DOJ argues that it’s not obligatory to attract districts the place a majority of voters are Latino as a result of white California voters usually choose candidates of assorted races and ethnicities.
“Current elections present that Hispanics haven’t struggled to elect politicians of their alternative in California,” the grievance mentioned. “That’s as a result of ends in California are largely pushed by party-bloc voting, not race-bloc voting.”
An evaluation by the Public Coverage Institute of California discovered that the Proposition 50 map has the identical variety of majority-Latino districts (16) because the maps enacted by the unbiased fee in 2021, which have been used within the final two congressional elections.
Whereas the lawsuit quotes supporters of Proposition 50 touting the Latino-majority districts, Newsom and Democratic leaders within the state Legislature argued all through the marketing campaign that the aim of the maps was explicitly partisan: to assist Democrats retake the Home. That would assist the state thwart a problem beneath the 14th Modification’s Equal Safety Clause.
“These losers misplaced on the poll field and shortly they will even lose in courtroom,” mentioned Brandon Richards, a spokesman for Newsom, in a press release.
The passage of Proposition 50 has scrambled the electoral enjoying area forward of California’s June main. Sonoma State College professor David McCuan mentioned the measure might face extra authorized challenges from Republicans dealing with political headwinds.
“You can see half a dozen to a dozen [lawsuits]. … difficult each the method of how Prop. 50 received to the poll and the constitutional authorized questions associated to Proposition 50 itself,” he mentioned.
