Virginia's Democratic Attorney General, Jay Jones, on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a state Supreme Court decision that invalidated a new congressional map approved by voters in a referendum last month.

The Virginia Supreme Court last week invalidated the referendum that approved the state's redistricting by a 51% to 49% vote, ruling that the legislative process that created the referendum was unconstitutional.

In an emergency appeal, Virginia Democrats argued that the decision to invalidate the congressional map "deprived voters, candidates and the state of Virginia of their right to a lawfully enacted congressional district map," according to The New York Times.

Officials argued that the state Supreme Court's ruling judicially ignored the will of the voters to create a new congressional map and emphasized that the state court made a "serious misjudgment" on "a key issue of federal law of significant substantive importance to the state."

Prior to the state Supreme Court's ruling, the Republican National Committee had filed a lawsuit, arguing that the wording used in the referendum misled voters into making an incorrect judgment. This lawsuit is being discussed as another point of contention, contrary to the state Supreme Court's ruling.

Although decisions on the state constitution are generally left to the state Supreme Court, Virginia Democrats urged the Supreme Court to accept their appeal, arguing that their appeal concerns a federal law issue, specifically the definition of "election day."

It remains to be seen whether the U.S. Supreme Court will accept this petition, as this appeal is a separate issue from the previous ruling by the Supreme Court that prohibited "racial gerrymandering."

Virginia Democrats are engaged in this legal battle with the goal of securing an overwhelming 10-to-1 majority of Democratic seats, out of the current 6-to-5 Democratic majority among the 11 federal House seats.

By Sung Ku Hong, Chief Reporter, NNP USA / Special Correspondent for this publication NNP info@newsandpost.com