Sept. 17, 2020 -
Why the ruling against Wolf’s COVID-19 restrictions faces long odds on appeal, explainedThe decision handed Republican lawmakers a long-sought — though possibly temporary — political victory over Wolf after a string of defeats. It comes just in time for them to rally their base as many seek re-election or campaign for President Donald Trump.
But the ruling leans heavily on precedent that hasn’t been invoked or respected since the early 1900s, according to some legal experts. Even those who were less critical questioned if the decision accomplished anything because it primarily deals with restrictions that are no longer in effect, and even they doubted it would be upheld on appeal.
“The whole line of precedent that the opinion relies on was repudiated in the 1930s and has been taught as the classic error in arrogant, judicial overreach in constitutional law classes for decades,” said Julian Mortenson, constitutional law professor at the University of Michigan.
The administration is also appealing the ruling, which means it heads to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals and could eventually go to the U.S. Supreme Court. And if past rulings are any indication, the decision may face some tough scrutiny.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, in a similar case out of California related to pandemic restrictions on religious gatherings,
wrote in May that elected officials should be allowed latitude when acting in areas “fraught with medical and scientific uncertainties” and should not be subject to second-guessing by an “unelected federal judiciary.”
In a separate Pennsylvania federal court case brought by business owners in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Lancaster Counties, a Philadelphia judge recently ruled that business closure orders did not infringe on business owners’ constitutional rights because the restrictions were temporary.
https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2020/09/pa-coronavirus-orders-tom-wolf-unconstitutional-legal-analysis-john-roberts/
