Republican legislators in California announced Wednesday that they are sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and to the U.S. Attorneys representing California, calling for a potential federal investigation into who is behind the proposed new congressional maps in California and how they were constructed.

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.

Newsom has called for a November special election to let voters decide on a new congressional map designed to flip up to five Republican-held seats.

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a petition filed by state Republican legislators seeking to halt Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) plan to redistrict California’s congressional map. “Petitioners have failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time under California Constitution article IV,

California's Supreme Court rejected a Republican petition to halt legislative action on redistricting maps, potentially leading to a November vote. Re

The court said the petitioners “failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time” under the state’s 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.

A group of four Republican state lawmakers sued the state on Tuesday in hope of blocking the state legislature from holding a vote on advancing the redistricting push by the end of the week.

State legislators are scheduled to hold floor votes on Thursday, according to a schedule from Democratic leadership.

The lawsuit comes as Newsom seeks a tit-for-tat expansion of California's House delegation to match a redistricting in Texas that would net Republicans five more seats.

California's Democratic Legislature is expected to counter Texas' mid-decade redraw of its congressional map with one of its own.