State Rep. John Cabello on Wednesday became the second Republican representative to file a lawsuit challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order.
The lawsuit, filed in Winnebago County Circuit Court, asks a judge to block the stay-at-home order Pritzker issued March 20 or any similar measures from being enforced on Cabello and “all citizens similarly situated.”
Cabello, a Rockford police officer from Machesney Park who was a co-chair of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in Illinois, said in a phone interview Tuesday that unlike the earlier lawsuit filed by Rep. Darren Bailey of downstate Xenia, he wanted to take legal action that could have broader implications.
Rep. John Cabello appears at a hearing in Chicago in 2017. He’s the second representative to file a lawsuit challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
“Once we heard the arguments and that it really only seems to be applying to Bailey, I didn’t want that, I wanted it to apply to the rest of the state,” Cabello said. “So we’re trying to find a way of doing it so that it applies to anyone that wants to do it, not to just one person. And make no mistake – this does not force anyone to leave their homes. This would give them the option.”
Illinois has been under a statewide stay-at-home order since March 21. The order was originally set to expire April 7 but Pritzker announced last week that residents would be under a stay-at-home order through May 30, with modifications due to take effect Friday.
“This callous disregard for science, reason, and the value of human life will be settled by the courts,” Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said in a statement Wednesday in response to the lawsuits. “The governor is focused on the statewide response to COVID-19, an effort that is not just legal, but is keeping people safe and saving lives. “
The state is expected to file an appeal on Wednesday over the ruling, which Pritzker on Tuesday called “absurd,” adding that it set a “dangerous precedent.”
“Because of this ruling, any resident can petition to be exempted from aspects of the orders that rely on collective action to keep us all safe,” Pritzker said Tuesday.
Both lawsuits argue that Pritzker has gone beyond his legal boundaries in extending stay-at-home order.
Cabello’s lawsuit accused Pritzker of distorting the state’s Emergency Management Agency Act to create a “police state” through his stay at home orders.
The suit contends Pritzker has used police powers, reserved for the legislature, to enforce his order and that he has usurped powers to limit travel that are reserved for local health departments under the state Department of Public Health.
Pritzker has maintained he is using powers granted to him through the state’s Emergency Management Agency Act.
“Pritzker has perverted the emergency provisions of the (management act) in an effort to rip the sacred responsibility of the health and lives of the people away from where the legislature placed it, being local control of county health departments of the IDPH, and in doing so he took complete control of the free movement of every citizen within the State of Illinois, which for all intents and purposes has created a police state,” the suit said.
“Even if well intentioned by Pritzker, his actions as governor have left every citizen of this state completely devoid of any procedural due process rights to protect their liberty afforded them by the United States and Illinois Constitutions, and further guaranteed them by the legislature under IDPH’s own administrative rules,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuits filed by the Republican state lawmakers are part of growing opposition to the continuing statewide stay-at-home order. Protesters over the past two weekends at the state Capitol in Springfield have urged that the state’s economy to be reopened, and other Republican lawmakers have pushed for regional reopening plans. More protests are planned for Friday in Chicago and Springfield.
Three Republican state lawmakers in a Wednesday video news conference criticized Pritzker for what they contend is exceeding his emergency powers by extending Illinois’ stay-at-home order past 30 days without legislative approval.
“Whether you agree with the governor or disagree with the governor, we believe that a separate but equal branch of government—the General Assembly—should have input in the direction of the state of Illinois,” said Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer of downstate Jacksonville.
Breaking News Newsletter
As it happens
Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our breaking email alerts
Joining Davidsmeyer in calling for the General Assembly to convene in Springfield, GOP Rep. Dan Ugaste of Geneva said Pritzker was “bucking a system of checks and balances” by acting alone in extending the state’s stay-at-home order.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act grants the governor emergency powers for 30 days following the declaration of a disaster, but “beyond that, the statute is silent,” said Ugaste. “It doesn’t provide for the governor to extend it, but it also doesn’t state how the legislature will be involved.”
If House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Don Harmon, both Democrats, decline to convene the two chambers, Pritzker should request a vote from the General Assembly on the stay-at-home order extension, Ugaste said.
Rep. Norine Hammond of Macomb proposed that the Capitol remain closed to public visitors, who could instead livestream the General Assembly proceedings from home. While gathered in the capitol, lawmakers could protect themselves by “wearing a mask and using some common sense,” she said.
Tribune reporters Rick Pearson and Dan Petrella contributed.
