Federal Judge Rules Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 Restrictions Unconstitutional
We have reported several times about the glaring hypocrisy in COVID enforcement rules. Every Democrat gathering is fine, but any non Democrat gathering or church etc has police show up. No restrictions are good enough for most small businesses or gun shops, but corporate stores who promise to require social distancing get to stay open.
WTAE:
A federal judge in Pittsburgh says Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and State Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine had good intentions to protect people from the coronavirus but their orders went too far. The judge ruled in a court order that Wolf's closing of "non-life-sustaining" businesses and restrictions on gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic were unconstitutional.
"You can't tell 13 million Pennsylvanians that they have to stay home. That's not America. It never was. That order was horrible," Thomas W. King, III, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.
Judge William Stickman IV ruled that the state-posed limits on gatherings violated the First Amendment and the stay-at-home and business-closing orders violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
The ruling by Stickman was made in a case in which Butler, Greene, Fayette and Washington counties are listed as plaintiffs. The counties had filed suit, claiming the shutdown orders were unconstitutional.
Stickman, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote in his ruling that the Wolf administration's pandemic policies have been overreaching, arbitrary and violated citizens' constitutional rights.
Stickman ruled in favor of individual and business plaintiffs, and he dismissed the county governments from the case. Individuals who won the favorable ruling include U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa.; state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler; and various businesses including hair salons and the Starlight Drive-In.
"This ruling stands for the proposition that even in a pandemic, the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania do not forfeit their constitutionally protected rights," Thomas E. Breth, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.
The attorneys say their clients are still willing to voluntarily abide by health guidelines such as masks and social distancing.
Viva Frei analizes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InCIyID5rkE
http://twitter.com/Roonie_Bear/status/1305843983738974208