Regular readers of this blog know I have long objected to Governor Tom Wolf's abuse of his "emergency" powers to put Pennsylvania out of business. That emergency, incidentally, still exists. Though Wolf has eased up on his ruination of Pennsylvania's economy, he could re-impose a lockdown tomorrow. A Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, divided largely along party lines, has agreed he has this power But yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge William Stickman IV, a Trump appointee, ruled in a 66-page opinion that Wolf's shutdown orders and other pandemic restrictions exceed his constitutional authority. This decision will almost certainly be appealed.
It's a well-written opinion. In addition to his constitutional conclusions, Judge Stickman has some interesting observations:
1) Though Pennsylvania has been willing to impose quarantines when necessary, William Penn himself limited their use because of his belief they had a disproportionate impact on the poor. His experience in London is that families with plague cases were boarded up for 40 days with no way of taking care of themselves. Instead of being provided food, homes were decorated with a red cross and the plea, "Lord have mercy on us." (Just as plague families were without means, millions of unemployed Pennsylvanians waited months for unemployment relief.)
2. The response to this pandemic was far more severe than the measures taken in response to the Spanish Flu. As this blog itself has noted, the measures taken in response to the Spanish Flu were far less draconian and of much shorter duration.
3. Even now, Governor Wolf's stay-at-home order is still in place. It has merely been suspended and could be reimposed tomorrow.
4. "It appears as though the imposition of lockdowns in Wuhan and other areas of China - a nation unconstrained by concern for civil liberties and constitutional norms - started a domino effect where one country, and state, after another imposed draconian and hitherto untried measures on their citizens."
Governor Wolf's measures were well intended and imposed to protect Pennsylvanians. But good intentions are no justification for violating the Constitution. "[T]he greatest threats to our system of constitutional liberties may arise when the ends are laudable and the intent is good - especially in a time of emergency. In an emergency, even a vigilant public may let down its guard over its constitutional liberties only to find that liberties, once relinquished, are hard to recoup and that restrictions - while expedient in the face of an emergency situation - may persist long after immediate danger has passed.
And so it has happened here. Piece by piece, civil liberties have been shredded away with ever changing metrics and no seeming end in sight.
26 comments:
Sounds about right.
In order for this ruling to make any sense, you have to assume that COVID limits civil liberties less than the restrictions meant to prevent its spread. Considering it has killed ~200k people in the US so far, that seems like an implausible leap in judgement at best.
Whatever now opens up more than it was before, that doesn't mean that I and many others will participate. I believe the virus only is going to get worse before it gets better. But if you insist on increasing your exposure, have at it. You even can blame it on the Chinese, the Democrats, or mail-in balloting--but that won't protect you. But I will be protecting myself, I assure you.
Good luck to those of you who aren't careful. You're going to need it.
Ouch. The best take downs are often done with a stiletto vs a machete. The alarming thing about the entire episode is how quickly so many surrendered their liberties for the benefit of so few, while ignoring the impending teen overdose and suicide bomb that is already exploding, due to authoritarian, unscientific edicts that destroyed kids' lives. First, he made deadly decisions that killed our elderly. Then, he made more deadly decisions that are killing our children. Wolf has committed international human rights, and federal civil rights violations. He should be dogged with investigations and trials for the rest of his miserable life.
How about the clown cars of deliberation that want into the Gov's mandates! And the Gov didn't even participate. After all these years and many close calls with recent viral epidemics apparently our revered Leader's only plan came from that movie, The Russians Are Coming... "Emergency, all people to get from street."
Seriously?? You think an argument using the state of the world and the programs of government during William Penn's era in London are analogous to today?? The responses to the Spanish flu in 1918 were inadequate sooooo.... Governor Wolf's lockdown is one reason we are not Florida or Texas or now the Dakotas or Arkansas or Georgia or any other of the states that had plenty of chances to lockdown before Covid hit them, but they didnt and caused untold sickness and death. The CHINA scare tactic?? Right so other countries shouldn't (Italy for example who was the first hotspot but got it under control, Germany who has always performed better than us through this etc.) shouldn't have locked down...painting with the broad brush using fear of CHINA? Puuulllease! Not surprised this is a ruling from a Trump appointed judge. Bullshit arguments. No, lack of national leadership from the get go undermined the public's response to take this seriously so that lockdowns could have been shorter and less economically harmful. The idiot in chief politicized any response that wasn't good for HIM and his lemmings followed. He's STILL doing it (large indoor rallies again). No, this is NOT the problem of an "authoritarian" lockdown that you love to harp on. This is on Trump and his followers' laps that we are still in this mess as deeply as we are. Time to get off your horse on this one.
7:35, What I think is that this Trump-appointed judge wrote a well-considered opinion. His discussion of the Spanish Flu is a response to the claim that the mitigation attempts made here are the same as were made for the Spanish flu. That is simply untrue, a point I have made. The reference to William Penn was instructive. Penn had concern for people negatively impacted by quarantine orders. Wolf did nothing for the millions he put out of work, and many of the state offices are still shuttered. Finally, these emergency powers should never go on forever. This emergency was declared in March. It is now September. I have no problem with minor intrusions on personal liberty like mask requirements. But restrictions on assembly, imposed by teams of people with no medical or infectious disease expertise, cut to the very core of our democratic form of government. I believe the ruling is sound. On the appeal, my guess is that much of it will survive. We should all be leery of one man rule.
You can't possibly think that Wolf doesn't want this to end sooner rather than later. As far as economic aid from the state, where is the legislature on this? Case in point, when Wolf said he didnt have power to extend rent moratoriums but needed the legislature to do it so he could approve it. No, he is NOT the authoritarian that you paint him to be. I guess you are of the opinion that all of the states that issued early lockdowns etc. were just doing it to "take away our freedom". Sure, that's why those states now have some if the lowest numbers of new cases. Or at least they did before colleges opened up.
I would also direct everyone to pp 4-5 of the Opinion, in which the court describes how Wolf arrived at his so-called scientific and data-driven decisions. He formed teams and none had a medical background or were experts in infectious disease.
8:28, At the onset of this pandemic, I would have supported all sorts of restrictions on personal freedom short of the shutdown imposed. Wolf went too far. Case in point is NorCo government. The building was closed to the public but many employees still had to work. They complained, but there were precautions taken, from temp checks to social distancing to masks. There was one case of Covid-19, and that person contracted it elsewhere and was isolated. At the human services building, where entitled caseworkers were enjoying a holiday at home, they moaned and groaned when told to return. Not one case. I believe the lockdowns imposed almost everywhere were an over-reaction.
As for extending rent moratoriums, Wolf could argue he has that power. He won't do so for political reasons. This just makes my point. His orders have had a disproportionate impact on those who can least afford the burden imposed. He never gave a shit about the people he put out of work. They can sit on the street with red crosses carrying signs that say, "Lord have mercy on us."
Even I would agree to some harsh measures at the onset, but not indefinitely. Even now, his stay-at-home order is still in effect. It is just suspended and can be re-imposed today. No one man should have this kind of power for so long.
If the governor's restrictions were extremist liberal assaults on freedoms (and some may well have been) what is my recourse when extremist right wing people who have high jacked the concept of individual freedom cause a direct health threat to me? If everyone spent as much effort on trying to rationally develop truly safe ways to minimize risk in reopening the economy rather than over or under regulate life based on BS extremist political philosophies, we would all have been better off months ago.
9:10, I agree. There certainly is a need, even now, for changes to the way we did things in December. I agree that social distancing, hand-washing and masks are all excellent ideas that minimize not just Covid-19, but many other infectious diseases. The science on this is pretty sound, too.
If there is a better way to protect the general public from the selfish and ignorant a plan better be developed fairly quickly. Countries that removed many of their social distancing guidelines when they thought they had it under control are beginning to see huge increases in Covid-19 cases. Trump left it up to individual states to decide the measures they would take and every state seemed to have their own plan, with many based on political devotion to Trump, or party affiliation, or QAnon conspiracy theories. The nation wasn't united under one plan that should have come from the Federal level.
This pandemic isn't over and there will be another wave arriving.
I applaud Governor Wolf!
He certainly has made many mistakes and will continue to!
Not comparable to Trump, who, if u listen to the Woodward Tapes, assumed we are like children who can’t hear bad news! More than that, it interfered with his economy agenda and interest! Wishing it away, didn’t work! 200,000 deaths and still counting!
PA has big numbers, partly because of our location, close to NY, NJ travelers! But would have been much worse!
So complacency and ignoring vs more diligent and sometimes draconian, much more preferred!
Businesses were helped, and the government, including the President needs to pass more help for businesses, the unemployed, stop evictions and help the home owners who need their rent money! Each governor made mistakes, some lost more lives, and some hurt business owners more! Tough choice!
Anyone who fails to see that on many a day this whole thing is more politics than science, fact, and common sense need only look at Wolf's "comments" striking back at the ruling on 9-15-20.
I'm afraid we're going to have to hit bottom before enough people wake up to the situation.
Save yourself.
The lockdowns in the beginning were understandable, but once the hospitals weren't overwhelmed it was time to loosen them up, yet Wolf refused. He had places like Elk County shut down, they had two cases up there LOL. Ridiculous! The other thing was the way he did it, shoot from the hip with no explanation. He refused to involve the legislature, well, he's not the King and this Judge said so!
Every state handled it differently. I think Texas and Florida made a big mistake allowing bars to open, but they have not gotten through it. Sweden never closed at all, took precautions and trusted its citizens to take personal responsibility for themselves. They had the same nursing home problem as us, but other than that seems to have gotten through it pretty well.
Wolf went to far for too long, then violated his own rules marching with BLM which looked bad for him, that's when his approval rating started to fall. This what's good for thee isn't good for me is what bother people, like Pelosi getting her hair down when no one else can in SF.
12:34, tell Gracedale families what a great job Wolf did, but they still should expect more "mistakes." Are you really that heartless? WTF.
"He certainly has made many mistakes and will continue to!
Not comparable to Trump,"
You can applaud Wolf and condemn Trump. I condemn them both. Wolf is far from inspiring, had no real science behind his numerous moves and played politics. Trump flat out lied and has misrepresented the situation. I agree his sins are far greater, but they both have been terrible. And believe me, I tried to give Trump room before reaching this conclusion. I'd even give him a pass on his early mistakes bc most leaders make early mistakes. But he never righted himself. He is a disgrace to the office.
Trump is God and will be emporer for years after 2424!
4.06
". Sweden never closed at all-- seems to have gotten through it pretty well."
try
https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87812
"Sweden far outpaces its Scandinavian neighbors in COVID deaths, with 567 deaths per million people compared with Denmark's 106 deaths per million, Finland's 59 deaths per million, and Norway's 47 deaths per million. The Swedish figure is closer to Italy's 581 deaths per million."
"No one man should have this kind of power for so long."
Too bad he is not your mancrush McClure.
We seem to be so hung up on the "Numbers" and shifts in them either cause immediate distress or hope. Their is so much pseudo-science out there spewed and reported by multiple news sites I just don't know what these numbers mean. Did those testing positive ever get sick, or would they have ever known the body had fought off the virus without testing. And did the people dying die with the virus or "from" the virus. None of us will know who made the "right" decisions with respect to this virus until years from now. Not sure if we will know then because we don't know who will be writing the books and what is their particular agenda. Certainly not from what now passes as "investigative reporting". Whatever, Gov. Wolf has done much harm to our economy and to young and old alike. It is frightening how quickly we gave up our freedoms. And I am not referencing mask wearing.
"Too bad he is not your mancrush McClure"
McClure, unlike Wolf, had limited emergency powers that only lasted 30 days without Council approval. He sought and obtained two 30-day extensions and then surrendered his powers, unlike Wolf. Your analogy is wrong, as usual. It is thanks to those limited powers that he was able to do things like give hazard pay. Even so, I would have opposed this after the initial 30 days.
Trump is doing his darndest to restore America to greatness.
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