Pennsylvania Covid Restrictions Unconstitutional, Judge Says

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and his health secretary overstepped when they issued stay-at-home orders and restrictions on gatherings and forced business to close in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a federal judge said Monday.

Limits on gathering violate the First Amendment right of assembly, and orders closing “non-life-sustaining” businesses and directing residents to stay home violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause, Judge William S. Stickman IV of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled.

“In an emergency, even a vigorous public may let down its guard over its constitutional liberties only to find that ...