Jay-Z Asks Court to Revive Extortion Case Against Attorney Tony Buzbee

Jay-Z is asking a court to reconsider his extortion case against Tony Buzbee, the Texas attorney whose former client just recanted her rape allegation against the rapper.

Jay filed a petition with an appeals court in California ... asking the court to reconsider its recent refusal to reinstate his extortion and defamation lawsuit against Buzbee, which was previously dismissed by a lower court ... according to Rolling Stone.

In the docs, Jay-Z says the Jane Doe recently recanting her allegations against him is "explosive new evidence" and should allow his "meritorious claims to proceed."

Jay -- legal name Sean Carter -- says the court initially dismissed his claim because Jane Doe said she didn't want to move forward with her lawsuit to "protect herself from harassment and invasion of privacy."

However, when she recanted, she said she dismissed her suit because she doubted her claims ... and he alleges Buzbee pushed to have the lawsuit dismissed in order to protect himself from sanctions -- not to protect his client's privacy.

Jay-Z "asks only that he have the opportunity to prove his case through limited discovery on remand" ... and, if it reveals he has a case, then he wants it to move forward to trial.

As we told you ... the woman's new lawyer, James Blair Newman Jr., told us ... "Our client maintains that she was a victim of sexual assault, but she was entirely mistaken in her allegations identifying Mr. Carter, and those allegations were false."

Her new attorney adds ... "Mr. Carter did not rape her, sexually assault her, engage in any inappropriate conduct towards her, and she has never met him. She sincerely and unconditionally apologizes to Mr. Carter and his family."