Clevelandurbannews.com , CLEVELAND, Ohio- A three-judge panel of the U.S.District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus on Thursday denied Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's request or motion to stay the case or to block a ruling from going forward that the same judicial panel issued last Friday that orders the Republican-controlled state legislature to redraw its congressional map by June 14, an order issued in conjunction with the court's finding last week that Ohio's current congressional map is unconstitutional.

Friday's decision also prevents election officials from holding elections under the current map, which yielded a 12-4 bi-partisan advantage for Republicans in comparison to Democrats representing Ohio in congress

Yost won election as attorney general last November over Democrat Steve Dettelbach, a former district attorney for the District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland.

He filed a notice of appeal on Monday to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the state and simultaneously petitioned the trial court, via motion, to block or stay implementation of its ruling for a revised map pending the outcome of the appeal.

The judicial panel said in its ruling Thursday that no new arguments were raised by Yost that warrant putting the case on hold pending appeal.

Yost said he is not surprised the state lost in federal court relative to his request for a stay and that he will now ask the U.S. Supreme Court to put the case on hold pending appeal, the high court possessing authority to override the federal court.

Thursday's ruling against a stay is another win for Democrats who say the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly gerrymandered the current electoral map to favor Republican candidates over Democrats for elections in Ohio to congress.

The 301-page decision issued Friday on Ohio's electoral map for congress that prompted the appeal follows a series of similar rulings in other states across the country, including neighboring Michigan.

Brought by the League of Women Voters and ACLU as a plaintiffs, among others, the gerrymandering lawsuit against John Kasich, a term-limited Republican governor who left office in January, former secretary of state Jon Husted, now the lieutenant governor under current Gov Mike DeWine, and Republican leaders of the House and Senate, follows the voter approved Issue 1, a constitutional amendment approved by voters last May and aimed at more fairness in drawing congressional districts.

Yost argues, among other claims, that the federal court ruling issued last week that found the current congressional map unconstitutional conflicts with Issue 1 and would force voters to vote under three different congressional maps.

Following a reduction in population per the 2010 U.S. Census report, Ohio went from 18 congressional seats to 16, 12 Republicans and four Democrats.

The four Democratic congress persons from Ohio are Reps Marcia Fudge, whose 11th congressional district includes Cleveland, Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, the longest serving woman in Congress and whose 9th congressional district extends to Cleveland, Joyce Beatty of Columbus, and Rep Tim Ryan, a Youngstown area Democrat and presidential candidate.

Fudge and Beatty are both Black women, and the only Blacks in congress from Ohio.

The decisions for Ohio and Michigan could both be put on hold until the nation's high court rules on gerrymandering cases before it relative to congressional maps in Maryland and North Carolina, such decision expected later this year, one that legal pundits say will, without a doubt, impact last Friday's federal court decision as to the pivotal state of Ohio.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.