The Supreme Court declined to hear a case from Virginia officials seeking to thwart a lawsuit challenging the commonwealth’s permanent ban on convicted felons from voting in elections.

The high court released its decision not to hear the case as part of its orders list Monday, rejecting a petition that was brought to the justices in March. With the rejection of the appeal from Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, the lawsuit will now proceed toward a trial in federal district court.

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The lawsuit, brought by two convicted felons in Virginia, argues that the part of the state constitution barring convicted felons from voting for life violates the 1870 Readmission Act, which allowed Virginia to rejoin the union after the Civil War.

The Readmission Act did not allow Virginia to “deprive” any citizen of the right to vote, “except as a punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at common law,” as a condition of being allowed representation in Congress. Lawyers for the two people bringing the lawsuit claim that the law does not permit the state to ban all felons from voting permanently, but only those convicted of felonies seen as common law at the time the 1870 law was enacted.

Miyares’s office has claimed that the Readmission Act can only be enforced by Congress, rather than the courts, and has warned that courts being able to enforce the act would be a “radical change in the law,” claiming it would “raise a gravely serious question” on whether the 1870 law is unconstitutional.

“The Fourth Circuit’s ruling that the Readmission Acts are judicially enforceable invites courts to wade into the political decisions that restored the rebel States to federal representation more than 150 years ago, calling into question Congress’s continuing determination that the States have republican governments and are entitled to representation,” the commonwealth’s petition to the high court reads.

Virginia officials also claimed that they could not be sued under the 11th Amendment, which curtails lawsuits against states from individuals.

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Earlier this year, Virginia lawmakers pushed forward a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to allow for the automatic restoration of voting rights for convicted felons after they have served the terms of their sentences.

The measure would need to pass both chambers of the state House next year to appear before voters for approval in the 2026 election.