US Supreme Court Challenge to Governor Wolf’s Business Closure Order
A political candidate, a licensed real estate agent and the operators of a public golf course and restaurant filed an Application to the Stay the Enforcement of Governor Wolf’s Order which prohibited non-life sustaining business from continuing operations at their physical locations during the pandemic and a Writ of Certiorari with the United States Supreme Court. This action comes following the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s denial of the constitutional challenges filed by the same Petitioners in the case known as Friends of Danny Devito, et al. v. Tom Wolf, Governor, et al. 68 MM 2020. We recently reported on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Decision in an article that can be found on our Firm web-site under the News and Media tab.
The Application requests the United States Supreme Court to review and reverse the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Order and to strike down the Governor’s Order as unconstitutional. The Application alleges that the Order has caused and will continue to cause irreparable harm to the Petitioners and to all the businesses in the same non-life sustaining classifications as the Petitioners.
The Application continues by arguing that the “Order and similar orders issued by governors across the Country are doing substantial, unprecedented damage to the economy.” In addition, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision which requires the continued closure of businesses “constitutes severe, immediate and on-going deprivation of rights” under the United States Constitution.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Opinion held that there is no judicial review for businesses that were denied a waiver or that wanted to apply for a waiver but were not able to do so before the waiver process was closed. Petitioners argue this is a denial of constitutional rights. Also, if businesses are not able to recover financially from this closure that will be a complete destruction of the property rights of these businesses. The Application argues that because Pennsylvania’s order is similar to the orders in other states, this case has great significance for the people of Pennsylvania but also for businesses throughout the Country.
The Application was filed with Justice Alito as the Justice responsible for the Third Circuit. It is now up to the Justices to decide whether to issue the Stay and/or grant the Writ of Certiorari. We will provide additional information as it become available.
This article is not legal advice and is provided for informational purposes only. Actual legal advice can only be provided after consultation by an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.