The California Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an attempt by Republican legislators to delay Democrats from gerrymandering the state’s congressional districts. The justices said the emergency petition, filed earlier this week, “failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time under” the California Constitution.

California Democrats introduced a plan last week that could slash five Republican-held House seats in the liberal-leaning state while bolstering Democratic incumbents in other battleground districts.

Many California Democrats are reluctant to give up the state's independently drawn congressional districts, but they say it's a necessary step to counter gerrymanders in Republican states.

The national redistricting battle enters its next phase Thursday as California Democrats are scheduled to pass a new congressional map that creates five winnable seats for their party, a direct counter to the Texas House's approval of a new map to create more conservative-leaning seats in that state.

The California Supreme Court's decision comes as Texas house also happened to give the green light to redistricting maps for the Lone Star State. Prior to Wednesday's ruling, California's Republican Party had tried to block the West Coast version of the ...