The attorney who filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of two Warren County businesses acknowledges that it’s “hard” to get a case before the court but believes he has a “good chance” given the importance of the case.

The emergency application goes before Associate Justice Samuel Alito, who is the presiding justice over the Third Circuit, which includes Pennsylvania.

Federal procedure permits filing with the U.S. Supreme Court “even though this did not start as a federal case,” Marc Scaringi, who filed the pleadings, explained.

“We filed an emergency application in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. They denied our application,” he explained. “The rules of the U.S. Supreme Court and federal statutes permit us to go from the highest court in our state to the highest court in the land on federal Constitutional claims.

“That’s what we have and that’s what we’ve done,” he said, noting Alido can “enter it or he can submit it to the full court or he can deny it.”

Scaringi said he filed two pleadings – the emergency application as well as a petition for a writ of certiorari, essentially a petition for the court to review to determine if the court will take the case. He said that filing is “much longer, more in depth” and is designed “for the full review of the full court.”

He said that filing asks the Supreme Court to “reverse the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and strike down the governor’s order.

“Regardless of what happens to the emergency motion, the court should still hopefully look at the petition for the writ of certiorari even if Justice Alito… declines to grant our stay.”

Scaringi said that filing would not bring “immediate emergency relief.

“It’s hard to get into the Supreme Court,” he acknowledged. “It’s very rare that the court grants emergency stays and petitions for writ of certiorari but this is probably the most significant case before the court right now (and is) of the greatest public importance to the greatest number of people. I think we have a chance.” He cited steps in the state court process, where the issue was given full review “because it was determined to be a significant matter of public importance. The governor agreed. So I thought if the governor of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court believe that what we have filed is a significant matter of public importance” he is hopeful the Supreme Court will agree.