Republicans are taking their battle against Gavin Newsom to court.
GOP state lawmakers in California filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to try to block the Democratic governor's plan to redistrict House seats.
Republican legislators are seeking to halt Democrats' push to advance legislation as soon as Thursday setting up a Nov. 4 special election that would allow voters to weigh in on the congressional redistricting proposal.
Democrats' goal: Nab five potential new Democratic seats in the U.S. House to checkmate Texas Republicans' strategy to redistrict a path to five additional GOP seats ahead of next year's midterm contests.
And Democrats in the California Legislature do not need any Republican votes to move ahead.
▪ The Sacramento Bee: Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), whose district would be impacted under a proposed new congressional map, is encouraging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to use pending legislation he introduced to try to thwart what he calls California's redistricting "sham."
IMITATION WITHOUT FLATTERY: Newsom, who for weeks has spearheaded efforts to challenge Texas' remapping efforts, has taken a page out of President Trump's playbook in leveraging social media to throw shade at the president and his allies, The Hill's Amie Parnes reports.
The term-limited governor, who has been making moves lately suggesting steps toward a presidential bid, envisions a political leg up within his beleaguered party — if his plan succeeds.
The governor has mined Trump's MO to get under his skin. In an effort to egg the president on — and rally support among Democrats — Newsom has called his midterm redistricting proposal "beautiful" and described his own rally that way. His social media posts appear in ALL CAPS accompanied by lowbrow nicknames, perceived as a Trump hallmark. When various GOP targets have responded in a huff, Newsom's team exults that Republicans aren't quick enough to get it.
▪ CNN: Asked last week by a reporter to defend the tone he's adopted online, Newsom referred to Trump, saying, "If you have issues with what I'm putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns with what he's putting out as president," decrying what he said was the "normalization" of that approach even as he noted he was "pleased with the attention."
▪ The Hill: Indiana Republicans hesitate to pursue a plan to redraw the state's congressional district lines, despite pressure from the White House.
Meanwhile, the GOP's mid-decade redistricting plans in Texas moved this week to the full chamber for consideration. "There's nothing that prevents this congressional redistricting and we could do it again," state Rep. Todd Hunter (R) said.
A Texas Democratic state lawmaker stayed overnight into Tuesday in the state Capitol and alleged to a court that she faced "illegal restraint" after being told she needed a police escort to leave.
"It's just wrong to require grown people to get a permission slip to roam about freely. So I resisted. I objected, in the only way I knew how, and that's to resist," state Rep. Nicole Collier told MSNBC in an interview from the state House floor when asked why she didn't sign onto the law enforcement action.
Collier was among the Texas Democrats who fled the state this month to delay the GOP's redistricting efforts amid a special legislative session.
DATA DIVISIONS: The Justice Department is probing whether Washington, D.C., police falsified improved violent crime data (which the department reported and Trump disputes). The numbers are among Trump's complaints about the police department. Meanwhile, White House staff shared with Axios a tally of arrests in high-crime neighborhoods of the nation's capital to show law-and-order progress following the president's Aug. 11 emergency public safety order.
PAYBACKS: Separately, the administration on Tuesday moved to revoke security clearances held by 37 current and former intelligence officials. Many who were singled out have not been in government for years.
Security clearances are required to serve in certain federal roles and to consult on intelligence-related matters for clients on the outside.
Some of those affected have been Trump critics and some worked on matters that have long provoked his ire, including the intelligence community assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to benefit Trump's campaign. The action ordered by Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, reflects the president's distrust of the intelligence community and his instinct for public punishment.
In March, the president signed a memorandum revoking security clearances and rescinding intelligence available to former President Biden, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), among others.
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