The Trump administration has officially joined the California Republican Party in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block California’s newly approved congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, arguing the plan is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander dressed up as “reform.”
The Department of Justice filed a brief with the Supreme Court supporting the California GOP’s emergency request to pause a lower court ruling that allowed the map to take effect. Republicans argue the map, approved by voters last year, was engineered to further tilt the state’s districts in Democrats’ favor and illegally used race as the “predominant factor” in shaping Congressional District 13.
“California’s recent redistricting is tainted by an unconstitutional racial gerrymander,” the Trump DOJ wrote. The brief asks the Court to immediately block the new Prop 50 map and restore the independent commission’s 2021 version while the case moves forward.
The filings focus heavily on comments made by Paul Mitchell, the political data scientist hired to help draw the new lines. According to the DOJ, Mitchell openly admitted he designed districts to “ensure that the Latino districts” were “bolstered,” particularly in the Central Valley, where District 13 is located. The DOJ says those remarks are direct proof that race, not politics, drove the drawing of that district.
The administration also cited the dissent of Judge Kenneth Lee, who criticized Mitchell for avoiding sworn testimony about how the map was created, despite publicly discussing it with media and advocacy groups before the lawsuit. The DOJ noted that alternative maps were presented that achieved California’s political goals without sorting voters by race.
“Under this Court’s precedents, that direct and indirect evidence is more than enough to overcome the presumption of good faith,” the DOJ wrote, arguing race clearly dominated the process in District 13.
While acknowledging California’s motivation may have been to counter Texas’ recent political redistricting, the Trump administration emphasized that political strategy does not give states permission to racially gerrymander congressional seats. “That is plainly what occurred in District 13,” the filing said.
Associate Justice Elena Kagan, who handles emergency requests from the Ninth Circuit, has ordered California to respond to the challenge by Jan. 29.
The request comes shortly after the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court order aimed at stopping Texas’ new congressional map from being used in the 2026 elections. In that case, the Court ruled the lower court improperly interfered in an active election cycle. Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, noted there was a strong inference Texas’ map was driven by partisanship rather than race.
That Texas map could give Republicans up to five additional seats in the House, a detail that seems to have inspired California’s sudden interest in creative cartography.
As the Supreme Court weighs California’s map, the Trump administration’s move sends a clear message: elections should be competitive, constitutional, and colorblind. And with the Court now stepping in, the fight over fair representation is finally heading to the one place where lines are drawn with law, not politics.
