More On The Decision Striking Down A Pennsylvania County Residency Restriction

As noted yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Gary L. Lancaster of the Western District of Pennsylvania struck down a Pittsburgh-area sex offender residency restriction.  The decision, available here is a significant victory for several sex offenders who challenged the Allegheny County ordinance. From the decision:

This is a civil rights action challenging an Allegheny County of Pennsylvania ordinance that restricts the residency of registered sex offenders. Plaintiffs, a group of convicted sex offenders whose residency has been affected by the ordinance, allege that the ordinance violates various constitutional guarantees, the Fair Housing Act, and state law. Plaintiffs seek an order enjoining enforcement of the ordinance, as well as costs and attorneys' fees.

The County agreed not to enforce the ordinance until this matter was resolved. Thereafter, the court consolidated resolution of plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction with a ruling on the ultimate merits of the case. The court directed the parties to file cross motions for summary judgment on dispositive state law issues [doc. nos. 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, and 29]. For the reasons set forth below, we find that the Allegheny County ordinance is preempted by state law and we grant plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment.

As with the New Jersey and New York holdings based upon preemption, the state legislature could always allow the counties to adopt residency restrictions and undo the effect of the decision.

Comments

[Dave]

"the state legislature could always allow the counties to adopt residency restrictions and undo the effect of the decision."

And start this whole process over again costing more public money.