#46: Illinois Judge Blocks Schools from Mask/COVID Mandate Enforcement - State Appeals
Some Friday night action in Illinois!
Hello All,
Many in Illinois were eagerly anticipating a ruling from Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene Grischow, who was hearing a lawsuit against Governor Pritzker’s emergency COVID-19 Executive Orders and rules in schools. The challenge came from parents representing 145 different schools across Illinois, and at its core boiled down to questions of due process - in other words, did the Governor’s emergency rules on forced masking, testing and quarantines in schools follow established rules and principles?
Well, we got our answer Friday night! See the headline (and linked story) below from The Center Square.
Judge blocks schools from enforcing Pritzker's mask, vaccine mandates, refers to policies as 'type of evil' - Greg Bishop, The Center Square
Judge Grischow issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the enforcement of such policies for now. From an Illinois resident who is used to being disappointed - this was a pleasant surprise! From the article:
In a 30-page ruling late Friday, Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene Grischow “deemed null and void” the governor’s emergency rules through the Illinois Department of Public Health concerning COVID-19 mitigations for schools.
“The arbitrary method as to contact tracing and masking in general continue to raise fair questions as to the legality of the Executive Orders in light of violations of healthy children’s substantive due process rights,” Grischow wrote. “Statutory rights have attempted to be bypassed through the issuance of Executive Orders and Emergency Rules … This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain.”
Wow… that last sentence is worth repeating. “This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain.” A powerful reminder that experts of the law understand just how unprecedented two years of Executive Orders and mandates have been. And importantly, as of the time of writing this ruling seems to apply to all districts in Illinois - not just those with parents represented in the lawsuit.
More from Judge Grischow: “The Legislature understood that during times like these, liberty interests were at stake, and as such, provided due process under the law for citizens to rely upon should he or she choose to do so. If the certified local health departments utilize the law as it is written, the Legislature has concluded such measures are satisfactory to protect the publics’ interests. If is not this Court’s role to question the Legislature’s balancing of the competing interests as being adequate or not. If the Legislature was of the opinion that the public health laws as written were not satisfactory to protect public health from COVID, it has had adequate opportunity to change the law since March 2020. Given the Legislature has changed the law and has chosen not to change these relevant provisions, this Court must conclude the laws which have long been in place to protect the competing interests of individual liberty and public health satisfactorily balance these interests in the eyes of the Legislative branch of government. While the Defendants would seemingly ask this Court to second guess the Legislature’s adopted measures to prevent the spread of an infectious disease, which measures include due process of law, it will not do so.”
As expected, Governor Pritzker was quick to appeal - even suggesting that the ruling “may force schools to go remote”:
The Chicago Teachers Union sent out the message below following the ruling, pointing to their January 2022 agreement with CPS as still being enforceable - which includes guaranteed masking:
What happens from here is anyone’s guess - I remember the mask ruling in New York recently being struck down, only to be reinstated by a higher court almost as quickly. I’ll withhold my celebrations until the dust settles, as things can change quickly.
Judge Grischow’s TRO gives me some hope, however. In a free society, there must be limits to “emergency powers” of the government. Two years of forced masking, testing and quarantines based on Executive Orders (and now law) majorly test these limits - especially considering other states who have NOT taken such drastic measures in schools, without experiencing major differences in COVID-19 outcomes.
Kids in Illinois have been stuck in masks for a long time, to “prevent” transmission of a virus that poses little threat to the young and healthy. Never mind the flip-flopping and shoddy evidence that masks effectively “prevent” transmission of the virus, of course. And never mind the millions of kids in America who have already had and recovered from COVID-19, without issue. But Illinois is going to Illinois - and fight to keep kids in masks at all costs.
Something to keep an eye on - given the parties involved, I’d expect further developments soon.
Thanks!
-GG