Democrats have launched an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court , seeking to halt a Virginia ruling that invalidated a ballot measure that could have secured four additional winnable U.S. House seats for the party. This urgent legal challenge follows the Virginia Supreme Court's decision last Friday to strike down a constitutional amendment that voters had narrowly approved just a month prior. The state court, in a 4-3 ruling , determined that the Democratic-controlled legislature had improperly initiated the process of placing the amendment on the ballot after early voting had already commenced for Virginia's general election last fall. Democrats had argued, unsuccessfully, that the U.S. Supreme Court has previously held that an election is not considered to have occurred until Election Day itself, even if early voting is in progress. This appeal marks the latest development in the ongoing national mid-decade redistricting competition.…