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*** UPDATED x1 *** State swats down one lawsuit as two more are filed

Tuesday, Jul 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a couple of weeks ago

A pro-life group in Illinois is suing the governor over their right to assemble during COVID-19 restrictions.

Illinois ‘Right to Life’ claims it followed the stay-at-home mandate but says Gov. J.B. Pritzker has unconstitutionally allowed certain groups to disregard the state’s limits on the number of people who can gather together while holding other groups to a different standard.

The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order allowing the organization to gather in groups of more than 50 people.

* A federal judge ruled against the group yesterday

The Court held a hearing on the plaintiff’s motion on July 13, 2020. At the hearing, the plaintiff’s counsel confirmed that the arguments advanced by IRLC are substantively identical to the arguments advanced by the Illinois Republican Party in Illinois Republican Party v. Pritzker, Case No 20 CV 3489 (N.D. Ill.). In that case, Judge Sara Ellis issued a thorough and persuasive opinion denying the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunctive relief.

Judge Ellis denied IRP’s expedited motion for an injunction pending appeal and the plaintiff then filed an emergency motion before the Seventh Circuit seeking injunctive relief pending appeal of Judge Ellis’s order. The Seventh Circuit denied the motion for injunctive relief pending appeal, holding that the plaintiff-appellant IRP was unlikely to succeed on the merits and that the balance of harms “strongly favors the governor.”

* But the lawsuits keep coming. WTVO

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is facing a legal challenge from bowling alley owners, suing over COVID-19 capacity restrictions at their facilities.

The Illinois State Bowling Proprietors Association filed the lawsuit in Lee County on Tuesday. The suit asks the state court to invalidate Prtizker’s “unconstitutional and improper” exercise of authority to issue consecutive emergency declarations and restrict the number of people allowed in a bowling alley.

“Our members are suffering serious and irreparable harm in the form of insolvency or the permanent loss of their business and reputation as a result of these illegal orders,” ISBPA executive Director R. William Duff said. “While we tried to work cooperatively to find a solution, the state was unwilling to work toward a fair solution, so we were left with no choice but to seek a court order. We believe that we have both the facts and law on our side, and we look forward to presenting our case to the court.”

Under Phase 4 of the governor’s plan to slow the spread of coronavirus, bowling alleys are among the businesses restricted to allow a maximum of 50 people inside at any given time.

* And

A southern Illinois lawyer who has tangled with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration over pandemic-related shutdown measures is suing the Illinois High School Association, claiming the group exceeded its authority by placing new limits on sports participation.

Thomas DeVore, who practices in the St. Louis area, sued on behalf of his two children, athletes who will be seniors in Hillsboro Community School District No. 3. He claims they will be irreparably harmed by participation rules the IHSA introduced this month.

The organization announced July 3 that athletes could return to summer practice and competition if schools followed a detailed plan of social distancing and sanitizing. But less than a week later, it announced drastic changes it said the Pritzker administration had required, including an end to scrimmages in basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

The lawsuit claims that change came after a COVID-19 outbreak at Lake Zurich High School. According to a July 7 email included in the filing, the school saw positive tests among 10 students who participated in Lake Zurich sports camps, along with one parent who was hospitalized.

…Adding… Forgot to include this

The Naperville Park District spent at least $24,499 to sue Gov. J.B. Pritzker in May for authority to reopen park facilities and restart programs on its own schedule, rather than the state’s, amid the coronavirus pandemic. […]

After losing the first round in court and with some park facilities being reopened under the governor’s plan, the board voted 4-3 a month later to drop the lawsuit.

*** UPDATE *** I also forgot to include this one

A hearing Friday in a lawsuit state Rep. Darren Bailey filed to challenge Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive orders could lead to a full-blown appeal.

Clay County Judge Michael McHaney sided with Bailey, R-Xenia, on two counts regarding the governor’s orders just before the Independence Day Holiday weekend. The judge ruled July 2 that any COVID-19 executive order beyond April 8 is invalid. McHaney didn’t rule on the first count, which deals with the definition of an emergency and if the COVID-19 meets that definition. […]

A circuit court hearing to bring finality to the case is scheduled for July 17. It’s then expected to be filed to the appellate court.

  60 Comments      


*** LIVE COVERAGE ***

Tuesday, Jul 14, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Follow along with ScribbleLive


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1,317 new cases, 25 additional deaths, 2.9 percent positivity rate

Friday, Jul 10, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Press release…

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,317 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 25 additional confirmed deaths.

    Cass County: 1 female 80s
    Cook County: 3 females 60s, 2 males 60s, 1 unknown 60s, 3 females 70s, 2 males 70s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
    DuPage County: 1 male 70s
    Lake County: 1 female 70s
    McHenry County: 1 female 80s
    Peoria County: 1 female 90s
    Will County: 1 female 70s
    Winnebago County: 1 male 60s, 2 males 80s

Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 151,767 cases, including 7,144 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 32,987 specimens for a total of 1,911,743. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from July 3 –July 9 is 2.9%. As of last night, 1,436 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 306 patients were in the ICU and 155 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions. IDPH will update these data once a week.

The trend is not our friend, but we’re still better off than a lot of other states. Even so, today’s positivity rate is 4 percent. That’s up a point and a half over the past week or so.

* Back on May 8th, Wirepoints was strenuously arguing against large IDPH regions

The governor continues to impose a top-down lockdown strategy that makes no sense for most areas of the state. Some of his required conditions risk Illinois being shut down for an impossible length of time.

Individual counties and their respective health departments should be ready to set their own policies, suited to the particular risks and situations of their own communities. That’s particularly true now that the curve in Illinois has been flattened and the original emergency order has expired.

On May 8, IDPH reported 4,768 COVID-19 patients in the hospital (3.3 times as many as are in the hospital today) and 1,220 in the ICU (4 times as many as today). The curve was indeed “flattened,” but it flattened at a high plateau back then. They were flat-out wrong.

* Today, Wirepoints is now arguing for a single, statewide approach to reopening schools

Full reopenings must be the standard. School districts should have the choice to do less, but anything other than a full reopening should result in a refund to taxpayers.

Pick a lane already.

* Tribune live blog headlines

Chicago Catholic schools to require masks, temperature checks when students return this fall

Glenview’s Flick Aquatic Center closes after 2 lifeguards test positive for COVID-19

PPP loans were meant to help small businesses save jobs amid the pandemic. So why does official data show thousands of recipients retained zero jobs?

City tightens bar and restaurant regulations to help prevent COVID-19 spread

City expands reopening of Riverwalk, restoring path to full, daylong use

After historic responses to COVID-19 and civil unrest, Illinois National Guard winds down its deployment

* Sun-Times live blog headlines

All bars must now close by midnight to prevent ‘late-night congregating,’ city says

United, pilots reach tentative furlough deal

Starbucks in-store customers will be required to wear face masks starting July 15

Employers report 15,600 job cuts to state in June

Would you go to the beach or a public pool if you could? What Chicagoans told us.

We can’t fly; we can’t hug; at least let us grin

  34 Comments      


Another day, another lawsuit: “The mandates are being thrust upon [plaintiff’s] minor child for no other reason than the general purpose of trying to prevent the spread of an infectious disease”

Friday, Jul 10, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Quincy Herald-Whig

A Quincy woman has filed suit against the Quincy School Board over requiring face masks and temperature checks for her child to attend school.

Roni Quinn seeks an injunction barring the School Board from enforcing the mandates against her child, a fourth-grader attending Quincy Public Schools, and says the board overstepped its authority in issuing the requirements.

A hearing is set for 11 a.m. Thursday in Adams County Court. […]

“This is about our children’s right to an education and allowing decisions such as these to be left to the parents not our government/local officials,” Quinn said in a post on the Re-Open Adams County Illinois Facebook page.

“If you want to send your child to school in a mask, by all means you have that right. As it stands right now, no one has the right to choose to send their child to school without a mask. That is not ok. These rights belong to the parents.”

* WGEM

In the lawsuit filed Friday morning, Quinn alleges that she, and her child, will suffer irreparable injuries based on the implementation of the mask and temperature check mandates because they infringe on the child’s right to an in-person education within the public school.

Quinn’s lawsuit goes on to allege that the mandates are not lawful as they were not implemented by legislature.

Quinn states that the requirement of a face mask to be admitted to a public school building is beyond the board’s authority or otherwise in violation of Illinois law.

Quinn is being represented by attorney Thomas DeVore, who recently filed a lawsuit against Gov. JB Pritzker accusing him of abusing his emergency powers with his Stay-at-Home order.

Click here and scroll down to read the lawsuit.

* Meanwhile, here’s some background on our next story. From May

A judge on Thursday sided against an Illinois organization that claimed restrictions implemented to combat the novel coronavirus made it impossible to gather the necessary signatures to place a constitutional amendment on November’s general election ballot. […]

The Committee for the Illinois Democracy Amendment is advocating for a constitutional change that would obligate the General Assembly to take roll call votes on bills proposing “stronger ethical standards for Illinois public officials.”

It would also allow residents to propose related bills by submitting a petition with at least 100,000 signatures.

Former Gov. Pat Quinn is one of the lawyers in the case.

* The plaintiffs appealed and lost this week. From the decision

One important question, when a plaintiff seeks emergency relief, is whether the plaintiff has brought the emergency on himself. The district judge concluded that Morgan had done so. During most of the time available to seek signatures, Morgan did absolutely nothing. He did not evince any interest in the subject until early April 2020, several weeks after the Governor began to issue orders requiring social distancing. The other plaintiffs did not do anything of substance until the suit was on file. Plaintiffs had plenty of time to gather signatures before the pandemic began. That’s a good reason to conclude that they are not entitled to emergency relief.

We add that plaintiffs also have not established that the Governor’s orders limit their speech. The orders concern conduct (social distancing), not what anyone may write or say. Orders regulating conduct often have incidental effects on speech, but this does not require courts to treat them as if they were regulations of speech. See, e.g., Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, 468 U.S. 288 (1984). Plaintiffs do not question the propriety of those orders. Cf. Jacobson v. Massachuse=s, 197 U.S. 11 (1905); Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church v. PriJker, No. 20-1811 (7th Cir. June 16, 2020). Although the orders surely make it hard to round up signatures, so would the reluctance of many people to approach strangers during a pandemic.

One more consideration bears emphasis. The federal Constitution does not require any state or local government to put referenda or initiatives on the ballot. That is wholly a mafer of state law. If we understand the Governor’s orders, coupled with the signature requirements, as equivalent to a decision to skip all referenda for the 2020 election cycle, there is no federal problem. Illinois may decide for itself whether a pandemic is a good time to be soliciting signatures on the streets in order to add referenda to a ballot.

The order denying the motion for a preliminary injunc- tion is affirmed. The plaintiffs remain free to contend to the district court that a permanent injunction would be justified if social-distancing rules are indefinitely extended, but that long-term question does not require immediate resolution.

…Adding… Rebecca Anzel has more on the decision

Former Gov. Pat Quinn, an attorney representing the committee, said in an interview Friday he and his clients are “disappointed.”

They brought this lawsuit, he said, because “it’s impossible” to comply with state law mandating petitions be circulated in person and with the governor’s social distancing order.

“The state should not be allowed to try to cancel out the rights of voters to circulate petitions to put issues on the ballot,” Quinn said. “It makes the whole process very dangerous. We’re going to keep fighting.”

Their options, he said, include appealing the decision — the committee is “free” to pursue the issues in this case in a district court, the judges wrote in their ruling — or attempting to change the law “so voters have the option to sign petitions electronically during the pandemic, which is not going away.”

  29 Comments      


*** LIVE COVERAGE ***

Friday, Jul 10, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Follow along with ScribbleLive


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« NEWER POSTS PREVIOUS POSTS »
* Selected react to budget reconciliation bill passage (Updated x3)
* Reader comments closed for Independence Day
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Some fiscal news
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)
* RETAIL: Strengthening Communities Across Illinois
* Groups warn about plan that doesn't appear to be in the works
* SB 328: Separating Lies From Truth
* Campaign news: Big Raja money; Benton over-shares; Rashid's large cash pile; Jeffries to speak at IDCCA brunch
* Rep. Hoan Huynh jumps into packed race for Schakowsky’s seat (Updated)
* Roundup: Pritzker taps Christian Mitchell for LG
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition (Updated)
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Live coverage
* Trump admin freezes $240 million in grants for Illinois K-12 schools
* Yesterday's stories

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