Photo courtesy: Pennsylvania Governor's Office
Posted By: Anne McCormick and Christie Ileto via 6ABC
September 15, 2020
Exposed
in his own tyranny, Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf whines like a pre-adolescent
brat, “but all the other governors are doing it”. The fact is, “all the
other governors” should immediately rescind all of their
unconstitutional mandates and restore our civil liberties. ⁃ TN Editor
Gov.
Tom Wolf’s pandemic restrictions that required people to stay at home,
placed size limits on gatherings and ordered “non-life-sustaining”
businesses to shut down are unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled
Monday.
U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV, who was appointed
by President Donald Trump, sided with plaintiffs that included hair
salons, drive-in movie theaters, a farmer’s market vendor, a horse
trainer and several Republican officeholders in their lawsuit against
Wolf, a Democrat, and his health secretary.
The Wolf
administration’s pandemic policies have been overreaching and arbitrary
and violated citizens’ constitutional rights, Stickman wrote in his
ruling.
The governor’s efforts to slow the spread of the
coronavirus “were undertaken with the good intention of addressing a
public health emergency. But even in an emergency, the authority of
government is not unfettered,” Stickman wrote. “The Constitution cannot
accept the concept of a ‘new normal’ where the basic liberties of the
people can be subordinated to open-ended emergency mitigation measures.”
The
ruling means that current restrictions, including ones that limit the
size of indoor and outdoor gatherings, can’t be enforced, according to
attorney Thomas W. King III, who represented the plaintiffs.
“It’s
really 100% in our favor. The court found in all respects that the
orders issued by the governor and the secretary of health were
unconstitutional. What it means is they can’t do it again, and they
should not have done it in the past,” King said.
Wolf’s spokesperson, Lyndsay Kensinger, said the administration will seek delayed enforcement of the ruling while it appeals.
“The
actions taken by the administration were mirrored by governors across
the country and saved, and continue to save lives in the absence of
federal action. This decision is especially worrying as Pennsylvania and
the rest of the country are likely to face a challenging time with the
possible resurgence of COVID-19 and the flu in the fall and winter,”
Kensinger said in a written statement.
At a news conference
Monday, the state health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, pleaded with
Pennsylvania residents to maintain social distancing and avoid crowds
despite the ruling. She said of the ruling that “anything that limits
our ability and the number of tools we have is a challenge to public
health.”
Courts had consistently rejected challenges to Wolf’s
power to order businesses to close during the pandemic, and many other
governors, Republican and Democrat, undertook similar measures as the
virus spread across the country.
Read full story here…
Source: technocracy.news
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