The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
While the loss of life due to COVID-19 should not be minimized, life has been hellish indeed for many thanks to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s lockdown orders.
Now, a federal judge has declared some of Mr. Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine’s mandates unconstitutional, striking a fierce first blow against what many have deemed to be a government power grab.
Three cheers for checks and balances, even during a pandemic.
In a measured opinion, U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV declared restrictions on gathering sizes, business closures and the stay-at-home order to have been unlawful infringements under the First and 14th amendments .
He’s right to acknowledge that state officials were acting in good faith to protect the public and that this isn’t the first time the government has infringed upon individual liberties during an emergency.
However, the indefinite length of the restrictions and lack of an exit strategy are critical factors: “It is now September and the record makes clear that Defendants have no anticipated end-date to their emergency interventions,” Mr. Stickman wrote.
Put another way, what began as a way to protect citizens has evolved into an inconsistent application of penalties and punishments.
Of course this is unconstitutional.
The double standard between political protests and other outdoor gatherings, the cover-up of a deal that allowed a car show in Carlisle to host up to 20,000 attendees, and the logical quandary of limiting some events by building capacity and others by absolute number were capricious moves at best, politically expedient at worst.
The business closures were similarly fickle, as Mr. Wolf’s team never defined what made some businesses “life-sustaining” while forcing others to close. Many such businesses in fact sold the same products or services as others that remained open. How is this justifiable?
Finally, the stay-at-home order — it was not a quarantine, which would have applied to infected populations, not the public at large — has not been lifted even now, only mitigated. The state can reinstitute that order at any time.
Mr. Wolf responded the day after the ruling that he would appeal the decision, calling some of the criticisms of his handling of the virus “conspiracy theories” and pointing out that the economy is reopened.
What blatant deflection.
The fact that hundreds of small businesses have been forced to close and thousands of Pennsylvanians have been forced to sign up for unemployment is not a conspiracy. The heartbreak of families kept apart and elderly relatives passing away alone in nursing homes while mass public funerals continue to be held for public figures is immoral. And legally, the restrictions can be reinitiated any time the state determines that the virus is spreading too quickly.
Enough.
Most Americans support commonsense safety measures like masking and social distancing, but the time for devastating and draconian exercises of state authority is long past. America’s commitment to individual liberty does not account for Mr. Wolf’s “new normal,” and constitutional principles are not fair-weather propositions.
First Published: September 17, 2020, 10:00 a.m.