Coronavirus Update: Supreme Court Denies Pennsylvania Businesses' Bid To Reopen

Nonessential businesses in Pennsylvania cannot reopen and will have to comply with Gov. Tom Wolf's orders, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

Justice Samuel Alito denied a petition lodged by a group of establishments and individuals with businesses, led by GOP House candidate Danny DeVito, to suspend the governor's shutdown orders in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

"The application for stay presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied," the one-sentence ruling stated without any other comments.

It comes as Pennsylvania's attorney general Josh Shapiro wrote the justices to urge them not to intervene with Wolf's ruling.

“Applicants seek to upend the status quo and force Pennsylvania to prematurely reopen all business locations, regardless of public health data and contrary to the phased reopening currently underway based on that data,” Shapiro cited in his 43-page letter. "Such a premature precipitous action, according to experts, will cost lives.”

Wolf signed an executive order March 19 asking all nonessential businesses to close in Pennsylvania. The governor allowed only "life-sustaining" industries to continue to operate amid the pandemic.

However, the business owners' group, through its lawyer Marc Scaringi, argued the governor's order was based on hysteria and "has continued to cause irreparable harm", especially for small businesses. Across the U.S., closures and work stoppage have resulted in layoffs, furloughs and a blow to the economy.

"You have multi-national corporations operating in Pennsylvania while small businesses are totally shut down," DeVito told reporters, after criticizing Wolf's nonessential business classification as “overly broad, capricious and arbitrary.”

Meanwhile, as of May 6, the Pennsylvania Health Department has logged an additional 888 positive COVID-19 cases, putting the statewide number at 51,845. There have been 3,106 deaths but the state is preparing to ease its safety measures against the coronavirus.

Wolf said in a press conference Wednesday the state will establish a civilian corps that will coordinate with public health agencies, community organizations and nonprofits to do contract tracing and expand tests.

By May 8, some restrictions will be lifted in counties in the north-central and northwestern part of the state. However, other parts of Pennsylvania still do not have to a timetable in shifting from the red to the yellow phase of the governor’s reopening plans.