Pa. Supreme Court rejects Gov. Wolf's petition to stop abortion amendment from moving forward [View all]
Subhead: Mondays ruling now clears the way for the Legislature to put five ballot questions before voters as early as next year.
(link) https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/09/12/pa-abortion-amendment-pennsylvania-supreme-court-wolf-petition-kings-bench-constitutional-amendments/stories/202209120112
HARRISBURG The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will not take up Gov. Tom Wolfs request to decide whether a package of five constitutional amendments can go before voters as early as May 2023.
The court on Monday denied Mr. Wolfs petition, in which he asked that it use its extraordinary and rarely used Kings Bench power to skip litigating the case in the states lower courts and expedite review of the case. The court did not offer any explanation in its ruling. When asked for further comment, a spokeswoman for the court said the order speaks for itself.
Mondays ruling now clears the way for the Legislature to put the five ballot questions before voters as early as next year to decide whether voters should be required to present government identification before casting a ballot or declaring no person has a right to an abortion within the state of Pennsylvania, pending any lower court action.
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In Pennsylvania, the governor cannot veto a constitutional amendment. GOP leaders have tried to circumvent Mr. Wolfs veto pen by using the constitutional amendment process, as Mr. Wolf has increased the frequency at which hes used it. Mr. Wolf vetoed at least 61 bills three of which that would have restricted abortion since he took office in 2015.
Mr. Wolf, in his July petition filed with Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman, argued that the proposed amendment to declare there is no right to an abortion in the state would violate the states constitutional right to privacy. He also argued that the way these amendments were advanced five constitutional amendments that were all placed into the same legislative resolution is unconstitutional, because there was no opportunity for them to be voted on separately by legislators.
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Unfortunately Gov. Wolf is running out of time. His term expires at the end of December. So it's essential that Josh Shapiro be elected in November to take over and continue fighting the good fight that Gov. Wolf has started.