* Tribune…
Thirty-seven restaurants and bars in McHenry County filed suit Thursday against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and health officials, trying to prevent enforcement of an order to shut down indoor service, which is meant to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
A hearing was set in the matter for Friday, one day before the shutdown was scheduled to take place in Lake and McHenry counties. A similar order has been imposed in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kankakee and Will counties, and other parts of Illinois. […]
He based the legal challenge in part on the state law that gives the governor power to issue executive orders in an emergency, as Pritzker first did in March, but limits that power to 30 days. Some courts previously have upheld the governor’s power to issue consecutive orders to extend that time period indefinitely, but a downstate judge ruled this summer that the governor may not do so, a case that the state is also appealing.
* Pioneer Press…
Five Park Ridge restaurant owners filed a lawsuit this week against Gov. J.B. Pritzker, objecting to the governor’s latest order shutting down indoor dining at bars and restaurants.
The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court late Wednesday, claims Pritzker lacks the authority to issue the executive order because the emergency powers he used to issue it expired in April.
Just a ridiculous assertion.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Sam Toia of the Illinois Restaurant Association announced today that his group will develop a standard amicus brief so that it can weigh in on lawsuits as they are filed.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Welp…
A McHenry County judge denied a temporary restraining order Friday filed by 37 local bars and restaurants can remain open despite the governor’s mitigation rules that take effect Saturday.
Attorneys met Friday morning at the McHenry County courthouse in Woodstock, where they argued primarily about Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s powers or lackthereof to enforce consecutive 30-day executive orders.
McHenry County Judge Thomas Meyer said that he ruled that way because he felt that the new mitigation orders were based on new facts and were not simply an extension of Pritzker’s original executive order.
*** UPDATE 3 *** The attorney general’s office tells me that judges in DuPage and Cook counties today also denied TRO motions filed by restaurant plaintiffs.
- Is it 2021 yet - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 6:20 am:
The second district appellate court will likely rule on the Kane County case next week (probably no later than Wednesday). That should give *some* degree of legal stability to this issue, although there’s still a possibility (and even a probability) that the Illinois Supreme Court will weigh in. It’s also possible that another appellate district might reject what the second district does. Regardless, fortunately, this issue will finally no longer be hashed out via conflicting trial court rulings.
- Blue Dog Dem - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 6:28 am:
I think if JB came out with a moratorium suspending property tax bills, it may go a long way in stopping these frivolous lawsuits. (Probably not frivolous to those impacted financially).
- truthteller - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 6:47 am:
If these plantifs had to PAY the state back for the legal cost of these frivolous lawsuits, they would come to an end
- JS Mill - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 8:03 am:
=I think if JB came out with a moratorium suspending property tax bills=
Good luck. Just one thing, who is going to watch all of those kids? Currently Illinois has 1.9 million students.
- Pundent - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 8:13 am:
=I think if JB came out with a moratorium suspending property tax bills=
I thought you were a law and order guy? Now you want to defund the police? Pick a lane man.
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 8:21 am:
===If these plantifs had to PAY the state back===
Enforcement.
- Huh? - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 8:21 am:
=I think if JB came out with a moratorium suspending property tax bills=
So, amidst a pandemic, you want to shut down local government agencies, like the county department of public health, and the municipal ambulance service.
Nice. /s
- Just Me 2 - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 8:47 am:
These lawyers just enjoy the billable hours. They’re wasting their clients’ money.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 8:48 am:
My family only goes to to 2 of the 5 restaurants behind the Park Ridge suit, but won’t be going to either one again. Actions have consequences. Best of luck to everyone trying to litigate their way out of an infectious disease outbreak.
- Anon y mouse - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 8:55 am:
More lawsuits will be coming throughout the State and more mayors, subtly or directly, will fail to enforce the EO’s. Both are big problems for JB. He’s losing his battle of control more each day.
- Pundent - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 9:09 am:
=Both are big problems for JB.=
No. They’re big problems for us. I don’t think JB is dining out at this point. He’s simply trying his best to reduce the spread of disease. The state is trying to protect you, not punish bars and restaurants. It took the U.S. almost 100 days to reach 1M Covid cases at the start of the pandemic. We’ve reached that number in the last two weeks. The state has the data on where outbreaks are occurring and you’re going to start seeing more of that in the coming days. Plaintiff’s attorneys are looking forward to that as well.
- Jocko - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 9:10 am:
So emergencies only last 30 days? Someone should tell the California (wild)fire fighters their services are no longer needed.
- DownSouth - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 9:18 am:
===So emergencies only last 30 days?=== Agree.
Let’s remind everyone of that when the next big flood comes (and we know it will) and southern IL is under water for months.
Oops - 30 days are up; we’re outta here. You are on your own.
- Donnie Elgin - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 9:19 am:
=So emergencies only last 30 days?=
No, but according to Illinois statute, the authority of a Gov to declare such powers is limited …
“Emergency Powers of the Governor. In the event of a disaster, as defined in Section 4, the Governor may, by proclamation declare that a disaster exists. Upon such proclamation, the Governor shall have and may exercise for a period not to exceed 30 days the following emergency powers”
The legislature with a Dem supermajority could/should pass new legislation clearly dealing with how to extend or re-authorize the original emergency declaration.
- ChicagoBars - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 9:33 am:
Wasn’t a decision in the consolidated Sangamon County cases (DeVore IIRC) already supposed to be due this week?
- Lynn S. - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 9:38 am:
I grew up in a small rural county, and I agree with Down South.
The only problem with their suggestion: DeVore and Bailey don’t live in areas that are under water for 30+ days.
Am I the only one starting to notice that DeVore’s clients generally live in areas that don’t suffer massive/significant flooding?
When your daily transit routes become severely restrained or non-existent due to massive amounts of water, it tends to impact your view of life and the world.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 10:02 am:
=== The State House and Senate are not capable of legislating on Covid, even though both are controlled by one party.===
(Sigh)
“The State House and Senate chose not to legislate on Covid, even though both had chances”
If you have Covid-19 legislation not acted upon, please cite.
Thanks.
- JS Mill - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 10:05 am:
=Yes, only the Governor can perceive that Covid is an emergency - he should be able to declare emergencies into perpetuity. =
Clearly we need to get kids back into school so they can be properly supervised.
- Lincoln Lad - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 10:10 am:
I understand fighting to save your business, your investment, something you’ve tried to build. Anyone who’s started a business gets that. You compete hard, you try to survive. In this environment, by doing so by ‘being open’, by disregarding health direction intended to try and stop a pandemic —I’d like those restaurant owners to look inside a COVID ward. People on ventilators, people dying alone, without their family at their bedside. Nurses and doctors quarantining themselves from their family because of the risk they might pose to them. But the restaurant needs to be open because you don’t want to lose your business. Really? Are you that numb to what is actually happening on the frontline of this pandemic? Are you somehow bigger than the other end of the spectrum?
- DownSouth - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 10:27 am:
Lynn S - commuting by boat for 100+ days will indeed change your outlook on a whole lot of things!
- Rich Miller - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 10:36 am:
===The legislature with a Dem supermajority could/should pass new legislation===
They passed three bills in May that do this.
- Thomas Paine - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 10:40 am:
HB 5780 - Butler-Wehri-Bourne-etc
Synopsis As Introduced:
Amends the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act. Provides that in any 12-month period the Governor shall have the authority to issue only one proclamation per disaster and that any further proclamation for the disaster that triggered the original proclamation shall be in force only after a two-thirds vote of each chamber of the General Assembly approves a joint resolution containing the exact language of the proclamation and which the Governor must follow. Provides that the Governor shall have no authority to amend or change the language of the proclamation as approved by joint resolution.
The GOP’s own legislation is an admission that the governor is well within his authority to issue successive emergency declarations. The plain language reading of the statute is clear, and given that the 1918 pandemic lasted a year, there can be little doubt that the authors were well aware of the possibility an emergency could last more than 30 days.
For heaven’s sake, IEMA (formerly the Illinois Civil Defence Agency) was born in 1951 in response to a possible atomic attack from the USSR; do you really think its creators wanted the legislature to have to reconvene monthly?
- Candy Dogood - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 10:45 am:
GOP be like, “The emergency didn’t go away in 30 days, therefore it is no longer an emergency. Please ignore the corpses.”
- PrairieChicken - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 11:12 am:
If the GA (read “Madigan”) felt that the Governor was overstepping his authority they could have enacted amendatory language to the statute back in May. That they didn’t should be construed as acceptance that the Governor has such authority.
Regardless of any appellate court decisions, there is zero chance that the Democratic controlled state Supreme Court will go against the Governor.
This isn’t Wisconsin.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 11:16 am:
=== Regardless of any appellate court decisions, there is zero chance that the Democratic controlled state Supreme Court will go against the Governor.===
Are you saying the rule of law would be ignored?
“Don’t trust the courts”?
- Dotnonymous - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 11:32 am:
But…but…but…thirty days…I rest my case?
Public necessity precedes all ways.
- Huh? - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 12:43 pm:
The whole issue whether Pritzker can issue successive disaster declarations was repeatedly discussed, bent, folded, spindled and mutilated earlier this spring.
The statute is silent on successive declarations. What it says is that a disaster declaration is valid for 30 days. There is nothing in the language that says only one declaration is allowed. It is nonsensical to argue a disaster only lasts 30 days. As others have pointed out, numerous disasters last much longer than 30 days.
- Union thug - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 12:43 pm:
I’m not a lawyer but, couldn’t al least one of the suits get fast tracked to the ISC?
- PrairieChicken - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 1:16 pm:
The decision of the McHenry County judge will be issued at 1:30. https://www.nwherald.com/2020/10/30/mchenry-county-judge-considers-lawsuit-filed-by-37-area-restaurants-bars-over-pritzkers-increased-mitigations/a8o80jq/
- Mama - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 1:44 pm:
It appears Republicans lover lawsuits. Is this what they call packing the courts?
- Mama - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 1:46 pm:
Oops….my above post should state:
loves not lovers
- PrairieChicken - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 2:05 pm:
The TRO in McHenry County was denied. Restrictions go into effect tomorrow.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 2:12 pm:
=== McHenry County Judge Thomas Meyer said that he ruled that way because he felt that the new mitigation orders were based on new facts and were not simply an extension of Pritzker’s original executive order.===
Is that what the “open” folks talk of… new facts?
Facts aren’t the “open” folks’ friends.
- PrairieChicken - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 2:23 pm:
Judge Meyer is a Republican judge so I guess “rule of law” is still alive in some quarters.
- The W.A. - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 2:25 pm:
**chef’s kiss** to Candy Dogood.
- Skeptic - Friday, Oct 30, 20 @ 4:31 pm:
“I’m not a lawyer but, couldn’t al least one of the suits get fast tracked to the ISC?” DeVore”s strategy has been to drop the suit rather than appeal precisely so that won’t happen.