Virginia Attorney General Ken “The Cooch” Cuccinelli is angry with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for striking down his state’s anti-sodomy law in accordance with a 2003 Supreme Court ruling. In a petition filed last week, Cuccinelli, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee in this year’s gubernatorial election, is asking the full court to reconsider.

A three-judge panel ruled on March 12 that Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” law, which prohibits anal and oral sex, was unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, in which the justices struck down the Lone Star State’s anti-sodomy law. The Virginia law was struck down in a ruling stemming from a 2005 case in which a 47-year-old man was convicted of soliciting a 17-year-old girl for oral sex. The Court of Appeals held that while the man was guilty of soliciting sex with a minor, prosecutors in the original case did not have constitutional standing to charge him with the anti sodomy law.

Cuccinelli’s appeal was first reported today by The Washington Blade. The Blade writes that Cuccinelli is arguing that the because Lawrence decision did not apply to sex with minors, it should have had no bearing over the “Crimes Against Nature” statute:

Caroline Gibson, a spokesperson for Cuccinelli, told the Blade in an email that Cuccinelli believes the dissenting judge on the three-judge panel was correct in stating the Lawrence decision applies only to sex between consenting adults in private and doesn’t apply to cases involving a minor. The case in which the three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the Virginia sodomy law involved a man charged with soliciting oral sex from a 17-year-old woman.

“We believe the panel decision was erroneous, and that the dissent correctly concludes that the petitioner was not entitled to federal habeas corpus relief, Gibson said, referring to the court’s decision to overturn the man’s conviction under the sodomy law. “So the full court should have the opportunity to decide this matter,” she said.

Cuccinelli is set to accept the Republican Party’s nomination for governor on May 18. A January poll by The Washington Post found that Virginia voters are split about evenly between The Cooch and Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe.