Free Republic

Does the Wuhan virus, which arguably escaped from a Chinese virology lab, supersede the rights guaranteed to American citizens under the U.S. Constitution? U.S. Federal District Judge William Stickman IV has ruled in a case brought before him that there is no pandemic exception to the U.S. Constitution and that the Bill of Rights cannot be trampled with impunity whenever there is a health emergency leftist ideologues try to exploit to impose their desired control over every aspect of our daily lives. As Reason Magazine reports: A federal judge on Monday has ruled that lockdown restrictions imposed by Pennsylvania Gov....

‘The liberties protected by the Constitution are not fair-weather freedoms—in place when times are good but able to be cast aside in times of trouble.” So federal judge William Stickman IV wrote Monday in an instructive ruling that overturned Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s use of emergency power. The decision comes nearly six months after Mr. Wolf invoked police powers to impose a strict lockdown as his strategy against Covid-19. Mr. Wolf argued the case is moot since he has relaxed his orders, but Judge Stickman noted that Mr. Wolf continues to assert that he can reinstate restrictions, as other governors...

On Monday a federal judge in western Pennsylvania ruled that parts of Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home and business closure orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic were unconstitutional. The ruling was in a lawsuit filed in March by four western Pennsylvania counties and several Republican state lawmakers that claimed the governor’s orders violated the First Amendment as well as the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. What does it mean for the average Pennsylvanian? Here’s what we know so far. Why did the judge rule the shutdown orders unconstitutional? U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman IV...

House Republican legislative leaders say “a return to normalcy might be on the horizon” after reviewing U.S. Western District Judge William Stickman IV’s ruling that found Gov. Tom Wolf’s restrictions imposed to control the spread of COVID-19 to be unconstitutional. In a ruling issued on Monday, the federal judge ruled Gov. Tom Wolf’s and Health Secretary Rachel Levine’s congregate gathering, stay-at-home and business shutdown orders violated the First and Fourteenth amendments. In their reaction, House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster County, and House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre County, cited an excerpt from the judge’s opinion that highlight that a response...