Gov. Tom Wolf. Photo: George Sheldon/Shutterstock.com

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to take up a dispute between Gov. Tom Wolf and the General Assembly over whether it can compel the governor to end a statewide emergency proclamation that Wolf enacted in March to help stem the spread of the coronavirus.

On Wednesday, the justices granted Wolf's petition asking the high court to take up the case in its King's Bench jurisdiction. The move stays proceedings that Pennsylvania Senate Republicans had filed in the Commonwealth Court, which sought to compel Wolf to end the state of emergency.

The dispute is the latest challenge Wolf has faced over the emergency declarations he enacted in early March, which helped lay the foundation for statewide shutdowns the governor enacted as the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold. The leading challenge to Wolf's authority was also decided by the Supreme Court in its King's Bench jurisdiction. In that case, Friends of Danny DeVito v. Wolf, which a group of business leaders filed in late March, the justices ultimately denied the request to strike down Wolf's shutdown order.

The issues the Supreme Court agreed to take up Wednesday focus not on whether Wolf has the authority to issue emergency declarations, but instead whether, and by what process, the legislature can end a governor's emergency orders.

The latest dispute can be traced back to a resolution the legislature adopted June 9 compelling Wolf to end his emergency order. Wolf, however, did not act on the resolution, arguing that the legislature cannot simply compel him to cancel the order, but rather the resolution must be submitted to him to either be signed, or vetoed.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson; Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre; and the Senate Republican Caucus then sued in the Commonwealth Court, contending that state statute 35 Pa.C.S. Section 7301(c) allows the General Assembly to end state of emergency proclamations "at any time" by adopting a concurrent resolution doing so.

According to the complaint, filed June 10 by Kleinbard's Matthew Haverstick, Wolf's refusal to follow the mandates of the concurrent resolution improperly steps on the legislature's powers.

"Despite this simple statutory check-and-balance system, the viability of which was central to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's recent decision on this very subject, Governor Wolf has refused to end the COVID-19 state of disaster emergency, even though the General Assembly adopted a concurrent resolution on June 9, 2020 compelling him to do just that," the caucus said in the filing.

Wolf, however, countered those efforts by filing the King's Bench petition to the high court, telling the justices the Senate's efforts to unilaterally end the emergency proclamation violates the presentment clause of the state's constitution and is an issue the justices must address quickly.

"The separation of powers and checks-and-balances among the three co-equal branches of government, are fundamental to our constitutional structure and the proper functioning of our commonwealth," Wolf said in the petition, which was filed by Chief Deputy Attorney General J. Bart DeLone. "At its heart, the General Assembly's failure to comply with the presentment clause constitutes a serious challenge to that structure."

The Supreme Court's order did not indicate when the case will be heard, but according to the docket, the Service Employees International Union sought leave to file an amicus brief.

A spokeswoman for Wolf's press office said in an emailed statement, "The governor is pleased that the Supreme Court will be taking up this very important matter expeditiously."

Haverstick declined to comment for the story.