Top Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania suffered another defeat on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court denied their request to delay drawing a new congressional map ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

In January, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the states congressional map gave Republicans such a clear political advantage that it clearly, plainly and palpably violated the states constitution. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court gave Republican lawmakers about three weeks to redraw the map, and said the court would redraw the map itself if the lawmakers failed to agree on one with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D).

Hinting that there werent federal questions at stake, the Pennsylvania justices wrote the Pennsylvania Constitution was the sole basis for their decision.

Pennsylvania Republicans appealed the state courts ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying the U.S. Constitution only granted legislatures, not state courts, the power to draw congressional districts. They also said an entirely new congressional map would cause chaos in the systems election process, set to begin at the end of February. Pennsylvanias top election official says they can run the election in a timely manner with a new map in place.

Their request went before Justice Samuel Alito, who oversees the 3rd Circuit, which includes Pennsylvania. Alito denied the request on Monday without referring it to the whole court.

This was always a Pennsylvania state court case about Pennsylvanias Constitution, and the U.S. Supreme Court rightly refused the Republican Legislative leaders attempt to manufacture a federal issue, said R. Stanton Jones, a partner at Arnold & Porter, which helped represent the plaintiffs: 18 Democratic voters from each of the states congressional districts. Pennsylvania voters will now get to cast their ballots in fair elections this year.

Wolf, who was named as a defendant in the suit but supported the challenge to the states congressional map, praised the Supreme Courts decision on Monday. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court gave him and lawmakers until Feb. 15 to come up with an agreement on a congressional map.

The U.S. Supreme Court correctly recognized that there is no reason to delay implementing the Pennsylvania Supreme Courts order. Now, all parties must focus on getting a fair map in place, he said in a statement. Gerrymandering is wrong and we must correct errors of the past with the existing map. My team is ready, willing and able to work with the General Assembly to ensure a new map is fair and within the clear orders given by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.