UPDATE 9/22/20 2:53pmHARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pittsburgh has denied the state's request to delay enforcement of his ruling that many of Gov. Tom Wolf's pandemic shutdown orders were unconstitutional.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro's office had asked a federal judge to retain Wolf's limits on crowd size, at least for now, warning that allowing large groups to congregate during a legal battle over Wolf's public health orders "will result in people's deaths" from the coronavirus.
The stay was denied by U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV, who noted that the defendants "did not proffer any specific evidence to differentiate between the danger allegedly posed by gatherings governed by specific numeric limitations and gatherings governed by occupancy limitations."
Stickman wrote, "Despite defendants having every opportunity to make a record, there is simply no evidence that would justify, from a constitutional perspective, the disparate treatment of gatherings."
Click here to read the full text of the judge's ruling denying the stay.The Wolf administration has been enforcing a gathering limit of 25 people for events held indoors and 250 people for those held outside.
ALL 3 RESTRICTIONS ARE
COMPLETELY DISSOLVED PERMANENTLY!
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A direct memo from the McShane Firm LLC. If not already aware, they provided representation for the
The People vs Tom Wolf, which resulted in a win for the people.
This morning Youth Hockey Info reached out to the McShane Firm in a bid for clarity on the following updates shared by both Tom Wolf and Rachel Levine at last evenings press conference
Pa. Health Dept.: Pandemic Orders Still in Effect Despite Federal Ruling - Erie. Their reply is short, (received today @ 1:05pm est) descript and to the point. There is no possible way to misunderstand the response.
While the governor and secretary for the DOH remain steadfast in their own beliefs regarding the gathering restrictions, here's what the official ruling means with respect to the law.
There are 3 big changes1. The DOH and the Governor
cannot ever issue business closure orders using a list like the life sustaining versus non-life sustaining.
2. The DOH and the Governor
cannot ever again issue a stay-at-home order.
3. The gathering limits of 25 and 250
are now gone. For gatherings it is unrestricted.
Occupancy Limits:
The occupancy limits were not part of the lawsuit. It is not that the federal judge found them to be ok. In fact, if it were part of the lawsuit, it would be a very sound bet that he would have struck down the 25%/50% discrepancy.
Reach out them directly -
The McShane Firm LLC