In Response to Federal Judge Ruling PA Gov. Pandemic Shutdown Unconstitutional:

Citizens, Contact Your Legislators to Restore the Law; Legislature Cannot Recognize Court’s Ruling as Gov. Wolf Acted Outside the Law Causing Chaos

Federal judge William S. Stickman ruled that it was unconstitutional for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and his administration to shut down and provide other directives to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stickman said that Gov. Wolf and Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine “crossed the lines” established by the U.S. Constitution. According to an article from the Pittsburgh Business Times, Stickman “…ruled limits on gatherings issued by the Wolf administration violated the First Amendment right of assembly and stay-home and business closures imposed in the early parts of the pandemic violated the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”

American Pastors Network and Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN, papastors.net) last month sent an Open Letter to all three branches of state government and wrote a Resolution to accompany it. APN President Sam Rohrer, a nine-term state representative, has called on pastors to lead the citizens of Pennsylvania in their shared responsibility to Restore the Law (RestoretheLaw.org).

Now that Judge Stickman has ruled Gov. Wolf’s guidelines as ‘unconstitutional,’ the legislature must do what only they can do to ‘Restore the Law,’ says Rohrer.

“Citizens across Pennsylvania must work together — starting right now — to contact members of the General Assembly, who are empowered and obligated to speak for them. Power belongs to the people, and the people must take it back through their elected representatives,” Rohrer continued.

While Rohrer understands that legislators may be hesitant, he adds that the Stickman ruling gives all the ammunition needed for the legislature to restore the law.

“We are in only in this situation in the first place because the legislature laid down to the PA Supreme Court and allowed the Executive and Judicial branches to break the law,” Rohrer said.

Rohrer said in reaction to the Stickman ruling, “It underscores not only the accuracy, but the content of our letter and resolution, and why the legislature must declare the July 1, 2020 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision (regarding HR 836) to be ‘null and void and without authority’. Judge Stickman’s decision gives overwhelming support to the Legislature, but it does not re-establish the Legislature’s constitutional authority usurped by our Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Wolf led Executive Branch.

“The judge’s decision confirms the identification of the problem as lawlessness and by extension the resultant serious unbalancing of the delicate Balance of Power in our Commonwealth—the same as we are seeing all across America. This usurping of authority and acting outside the law initiated by the Wolf-led Executive Branch and then enabled by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was fully detailed in our Open Letter and Resolution,” Rohrer continued. “No citizen though, nor Judicial Branch action can re-establish the constitutional Balance of Power or Restore the Law. This is why we called upon the Legislature and we call now again on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to move swiftly and boldly to ‘Restore the Law’ as called out in our Open Letter and Resolution. While Judge Stickman identified the Problem, he cannot prescribe the Solution. We call on the Legislature to do what only they can do to now, ‘Restore the Law’”.

All people are invited to learn about APN’s open letter and resolution at www.RestoreTheLaw.org.

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash