Republican state lawmakers should stop their fight to end Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic shutdown order.
Republican majorities in both chambers, along with a few Democrats, voted early last month to end the emergency disaster declaration that has led to closure of “non-life-sustaining” businesses, bans on large gatherings and orders that people stay at home.
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, and Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, sued to enforce their resolution.
The dispute went to the state’s highest court, which took up the matter without hearing oral arguments. Last week, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled against the GOP’s efforts to end Wolf’s pandemic shutdown orders.
A divided court ruled that a resolution passed with mostly GOP votes was a “legal nullity” because it was not sent to Wolf for him to sign or veto.
“We express no opinion as to whether the governor’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes wise or sound policy,” wrote Justice David Wecht, who was joined by three others in the decision. “Similarly, we do not opine as to whether the General Assembly, in seeking to limit or terminate the governor’s exercise of emergency authority, presents a superior approach for advancing the welfare of our commonwealth’s residents.”
Wecht said allowing the General Assembly to overturn the governor’s proclamation without presenting the measure for him to sign or veto “would be to rewrite our constitution and remove the governor from the lawmaking process. Such a view is inimical to our system of checks and balances, a system in which presentment plays a critical role.”
We are anxious for the full return of Pennsylvania’s economy, but those who seek to overturn the governor’s shutdown ban are being short-sighted.
Wolf has gradually been reopening the state, although a recent small increase in infections in some parts of the state has produced some additional restrictions.
Health officials in the state’s two most populous counties—Philadelphia and Allegheny, comprising Pittsburgh—report rising rates of positive tests for the coronavirus. Officials attribute the increase to people socializing in bars and returning from beach vacations and coronavirus hot spots in other parts of the U.S. In response to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Allegheny County, health officials are ordering all bars and restaurants in the county to stop the sale of alcohol for on-site consumption.
The pandemic should not be politicized. Republican state lawmakers should look at the virus outbreak that is occurring in Texas, Florida and other states that reopened too soon.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court made the right decision to keep the Wolf’s administration’s disaster proclamation in place.
(Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune)
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