“We haven't seen a tyrant like this since George III.”

That salvo, directed at Gov. Tom Wolf, was launched Thursday by Butler attorney Tom King as he filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state's emergency orders during the coronavirus pandemic.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on behalf of Butler and three other counties, several state and federal lawmakers, three hair salons, a furniture store, a farmer, two drive-ins and a harness driver.

In addition to the governor, state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine is named as the only other defendant.

The suit is a part of a two-pronged effort to essentially nullify the Wolf administration's reaction to COVID-19, including business closures and stay-at-home orders, and its plan to reopen Pennsylvania.

In addition to the lawsuit and also on behalf of some of the same plaintiffs, King plans to file an amicus curiae — “friend of the court” — brief in the U.S. Supreme Court.

That brief, which is expected to be filed next, is in support of another group of business owners and a Republican state House candidate in Allegheny County, that have mounted their own challenge of Wolf's executive orders.

“Our lawsuit addresses federal constitutional violations, and we did it that way on purpose,” King said Thursday, “because we have no interest in being in the state court system, back in front of the state Supreme Court.”

The state's high court has already ruled in favor of Wolf in two previous suits that challenged the governor's authority to shutter businesses deemed nonessential.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that will appear in Friday's Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.