HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s top lawyer is asking a federal judge to keep in place Gov. Tom Wolf’s limits on crowd size, arguing that allowing large groups to congregate “will result in people’s deaths” from the coronavirus.

The office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro urged U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV on Wednesday to delay enforcement of his ruling that many of the governor’s pandemic shutdown orders are unconstitutional.

Stickman has said the state’s size limits for indoor and outdoor gatherings violate citizens’ constitutional right to assemble. The state has been enforcing a gathering limit of 25 people for indoor events and 250 for those held outside.

Shapiro’s office says Stickman’s ruling “does not consider the manner in which COVID-19 is spread or the rationale for adopting the congregate limits.” Its points out that other federal judges and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have upheld Wolf’s pandemic shutdown orders.