Credit: PA Internet News Service
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration will appeal a federal judge’s decision that threw out some of the state’s COVID-19 mitigation measures.
Speaking in York County, the Democratic governor serving his second term cited that his administration’s measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 have been working and were needed to keep Pennsylvanians safe. He also noted that two previous federal judges had supported the measures.
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“I believe the vast majority of Pennsylvanians understand what we had to do in the beginning was necessary to keep people safe before we had the resources to reopen safely,” Wolf said.
U.S. District Judge William Stickman’s decision on the state’s mitigation measures said they were “undertaken with the good intention of addressing a public health emergency. But even in an emergency, the authority of government is not unfettered. The liberties protected by the Constitution are not fair-weather freedoms — in place when times are good but able to be cast aside in times of trouble.”
The lawsuit was filed months ago and many of the restrictions it fought have already been suspended as COVID-19 cases dropped.
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The governor’s office has said the ruling by Stickman does not impact the masking order, worker safety order, and other mitigation measures.
“And contrary to the misinformation from the legislature, we are reopened. And we’ve been able to manage outbreaks and mitigate risk successfully, while trying to bring some normalcy to our lives. And right now, Pennsylvania is a leader in the region in how we’ve kept deaths and sickness low,” the governor said.
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“Containing the virus is the only way to protect our health and keep our economy going,” he added.
President Donald Trump retweeted posts about the ruling against Wolf.
“Judge Stickman’s opinion confirms what Pennsylvania Republicans have been saying all along: The Wolf administration’s use of emergency authority is unconstitutionally overbroad,” state House Speaker Bryan Cutler, a Republican from Lancaster County, and House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, a Republican from Centre County, said in a statement.
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