The ruling comes after the court in December upheld a new Texas congressional map that benefits Republicans.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 4 allowed California to use its newly redrawn congressional map in the upcoming midterm elections over the objections of Republicans who filed to block it.
The decision in Tangipa v. Newsom came in an unsigned order. No justices dissented. The court did not explain its ruling.
California Republicans had filed an emergency application with the court on Jan. 20, asking the justices to block the map that gives Democrats an electoral advantage.
The new ruling comes after the court on Dec. 4, 2025, upheld a redrawn election map that aimed to increase Republican representation in Texas’s U.S. House delegation.
Republicans had argued that the new California map, which voters authorized in November 2025 by approving Proposition 50, constituted unlawful racial gerrymandering that the federal Voting Rights Act prohibits.
Gerrymandering is the manipulation of electoral district boundaries to favor a particular party or constituency. The Supreme Court has previously ruled that race-based gerrymandering violates the U.S. Constitution but that redrawing district boundaries to boost partisan fortunes passes constitutional muster.
In a 2–1 ruling delivered on Jan. 14, a three-judge federal panel in California rejected GOP arguments, describing the referendum as a proportional and legal reaction to Republicans undertaking redistricting efforts in Texas.
“We find that Challengers have failed to show that racial gerrymandering occurred, and we conclude that there is no basis for issuing a preliminary injunction,” the court said in its written opinion.
The judges said California’s move was a reaction to similar moves undertaken in Texas that President Donald Trump encouraged.
“The stated goal of [the legislation authorizing the referendum] was to counter the actions of Texas and pick up an additional five Democratic seats,” the court wrote. “The new map drawn by a private consultant, paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and incorporated into Proposition 50, met that goal exactly.”
Republicans currently hold a thin, 218–214 majority over Democrats in the U.S. House. There are 435 seats in the House, but three are currently vacant.
Joseph Lord contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
