Court tosses ruling against state’s COVID-19 measures
Federal judge calls case moot since restrictions already expired
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PHILADELPHIA -- A federal appeals court has dismissed a judge's ruling that threw out Gov. Tom Wolf's sweeping COVID-19 restrictions, saying the case is now moot because statewide mitigation measures have expired and Pennsylvania voters have since constrained a governor's emergency powers.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that since the Wolf administration's stay-at-home orders, limits on crowd size and business closures have been lifted and are no longer in effect, there is "consequently no relief that this court can grant."
Republican state lawmakers and many conservatives and business owners had railed against the state's pandemic restrictions, calling them excessive, inconsistent and unconstitutional. In May, Pennsylvania voters approved amendments to the state constitution that give lawmakers more say over the length of a disaster declaration and the management of it.
"The parties agree that the governor's orders are no longer in effect and that he has been stripped of his power to unilaterally act in connection with this pandemic," the three-judge panel wrote. "Thus, the case is moot."
The appeals court instructed U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV to vacate his nearly year-old ruling that Wolf's pandemic restrictions were overreaching and arbitrary and violated citizens' constitutional rights. The appeals court had previously put the ruling on hold while the Wolf administration appealed.
Stickman, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, had sided with plaintiffs that included hair salons, drive-in movie theaters, a farmer's market vendor, a horse trainer and several Republican officeholders in their lawsuit against Wolf, a Democrat, and his health secretary.
Other federal and state courts had rejected various challenges to Wolf's authority to impose public health orders in response to the pandemic.
Wolf's spokesperson, Lyndsay Kensinger, said Wednesday the administration was pleased by the decision to vacate Stickman's ruling.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Thomas W. King III, said "we disagree with the decision" and will appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Writing separately, 3rd Circuit Judge Kent Jordan said that while he agreed with the majority there is no longer an active legal dispute to resolve, he noted the Wolf administration has said the constitutional amendments do not affect a state health secretary's disease-prevention authority to issue mask-wearing and stay-at-home orders or shut down schools and businesses deemed nonessential.
But he said the court has been "given little reason to doubt" Wolf administration assurances that it does not plan to restore such statewide mitigation measures, even as the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus has led to sharply rising infections and hospitalizations.
Because the court sees "no reasonable expectation that they will be reimposed," he wrote, "the case is over."
Wolf's spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the administration has no plans to reimpose statewide mitigation measures.
Wolf is instead urging people to get vaccinated, as "there is a correlation between increased vaccination rates and lower COVID-19 case counts," said Kensinger, who stressed "the importance of eligible Pennsylvanians getting vaccinated to stop the spread of COVID-19."
Nearly 64% of Pennsylvania adults are fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Jordan also wrote that the court was not ruling on the merits of the plaintiffs' case. The decision, he wrote, "should not be read as … indicating a failure to understand that there are real-world consequences flowing from governmental responses to the unprecedented (at least in our lifetime) pandemic we are yet working our way through."
Philly mask,
vaccine mandate
New mask mandates will go into effect at midnight Wednesday in Philadelphia, and new city hires will be required to be vaccinated starting Sept. 1, city officials announced.
The restrictions and policy changes come as the city's count of new COVID-19 cases has risen exponentially over the past six weeks. The city is now reporting nearly 200 cases per day, up from an average in the low 20s in early July.
"I'm upset that people just can't act in the way they are supposed to act … and do what's good for everybody," said a visibly irritated Mayor Jim Kenney, speaking at a news conference. He pleaded for people to "please just get vaccinated."
Starting at midnight, restaurants and businesses must enforce mask-wearing inside unless they can verify that all employees and patrons are vaccinated, said acting Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole.
The city will also require masks inside city buildings and at outdoor, unseated events of 1,000 or more people.