Steve Hilton Files Legal Action to Stop California’s Unconstitutional Redistricting Plan

Steve Hilton filed legal action to the United States District Court Central District of California to stop California’s unconstitutional redistricting plan, which violates the principle of one person, one vote and shreds the guarantee of equal protection under the law.

It’s not a lengthy lawsuit – only 7 total pages. But in those 7 pages, Hilton makes it very clear what the violations are:

Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8 does not specifically repeal the section of Article XXI that limits redistricting to occur only in the year following the national census;

AB 604/ACA 8 breaks up communities of color  and ethnicity;

California has a century-long history of not redistricting in the middle of a decade. Mid-decade redistricting is only permissible if the redistricting plan was invalidated by judicial decision, or nullified by referendum.

In August, California’s legislative Democrats kicked the voter approved independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission to the curb for the next few elections, when they introduced their package of three bills, SB 280, AB 604, and ACA 8, to redraw California’s congressional districts mid-decade, described in detail by California Globe contributor Chris Micheli here.

Listening to Assembly Democrats in the Elections Committee blame President Donald Trump for everything from “rigging an election,” to taking candy from babies, was political performance theater lacking any reality. In August they heard two bills of the 3-measure package on Congressional redistricting, Senate Bill 280 and Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8, and had an informational panel on Assembly Bill 604, to specify the elements that define the congressional districts if ACA 8 is adopted by the voters on November 4.

As Assemblyman Carl DeMaio said in a press conference the same day, the maps were drawn by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), “which is not even a registered lobbyist,” DeMaio noted. “How much money was paid to Paul Mitchell, who boasted that he had a team of 8 people” working with him. Mitchell is drawing the new districts for the governor, the Globe reported.

In an effort to influence the midterm elections, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced their intentions to blow up California’s independent redistricting commission, effectively tampering with the state’s electoral maps mid-decade… because TRUMP.

The Legislature passed Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8, which authorized Proposition 50 for the ballot. Prop. 50 will suspend the Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC) maps for upcoming 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections, taking away the role of the independent commission, handing redistricting power to the state legislature in Sacramento.

Adding to the redistricting controversy, KCRA news reported that Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire asked for a particular district be drawn, in anticipation of running for Congress.

“Who drew the maps?” was never answered. What should have been a straightforward answer, Democrats refused to address, clearly indicating that indeed they are covering up how the maps were drawn, and by whom.

“We cannot allow Gavin Newsom to steal $250 million of California taxpayers’ money for what is essentially an illegal and corrupt contribution to his presidential campaign,” Hilton told the Globe Tuesday. “He claims this is simply responding to Texas but if there is a ‘tit for tat’ situation here it’s Newsom who is the ‘tit’ – Democrats started this by stealing 12 House seats in California with the gerrymandered, cheating maps we have now. If Prop 50 goes through it will be even worse: it will take 193,00 votes to elect a Democrat to Congress, but 1.52 million votes to elect a Republican. A Democrat vote will be worth eight times a Republican vote. That is an obscene assault on democracy by Gavin Newsom and that’s why I have filed a lawsuit to stop it.”

Proposition 50 is a betrayal of California’s voters. In 2008, California voters approved a Constitutional Amendment creating the Citizens Redistricting Commission, delegating a bipartisan panel of citizens to draw electoral maps every ten years following a national census.

“Equal protection means fair value for every vote,” Hilton said. “Under this new scheme, a Democrat vote is worth eight times a Republican vote. That is not democracy, it is voter suppression.”

Even the current congressional breakdown of 43 Democrats and 9 Republicans, while still skewed, yields a smaller ratio of about 3 to 1, Hilton says.

“The Constitution does not say one person, one vote sometimes. It does not say one person, one vote, only for the majority party. It says one person, one vote for everyone,” Hilton said. “If this map is allowed to stand, millions of Californians will have their voices silenced and their votes devalued.”

The redistricting scheme also ignores California’s constitutional requirement that redistricting happen once per decade in the year after the census. The census is the only accurate, comprehensive population count to ensure districts are roughly equal in size. “Five years after the last census, with hundreds of thousands leaving the state and entire communities displaced by wildfires, it is impossible to guarantee equal representation,” Hilton said.