Hello All,
Happy Saturday! We had some good news break after many of us went to bed on Thursday night - a 3-justice panel in Illinois dismissed Governor Pritzker’s appeal of the judge’s order that struck down his school COVID mandate, which included forced masking of students in the state and other restrictions. Cook County Record has a detailed article for those interested here. (Thanks to Twitter user @EWoodhouse7 for bringing this to my attention)
To the chagrin of Governor Pritzker, here is a brief summary of recent events:
Judge Raylene Grischow of Sangamon County struck down the Governor’s mandate, ruling that his powers under Illinois law, even during an emergency, were not limitless. From the Cook County Record article: “Grischow said Pritzker illegally used executive orders and those “emergency rules” to rewrite the state’s quarantine rules, and sidestep the due process provisions in the IDPH Act. She declared the rules null and void, and imposed a TRO on Pritzker and others attempting to enforce the rules.” Governor Pritzker appealed the decision to the Fourth District.
While the appeal was pending, the expiration date of Governor Pritzker’s emergency rules came due. In response, he tried to reimpose those rules - but was blocked by the Joint Committee of Administrative Rules (JCAR) in a bipartisan 9-0-2 vote. “Today, the Joint Committee of Administrative Rules made it clear that we would not accept the Governor’s attempts to go above a court ruling made by a co-equal branch of government,” said state Senator Sue Rezin, R-Morris, after the vote.
And now, the appeals court has denied the Governor’s appeal - again, from the Cook County Record article which cites the court’s decision: “Because the emergency rules voided by the TRO are no longer in effect, a controversy regarding the application of those rules no longer exists,” the justices wrote. “Thus, the matter is moot.”
On its surface, this is a good thing - the court could have sided with the Governor and established a legal precedent for mask mandates and other restrictions during an emergency. They did not do that.
However, this was not the complete victory that many hoped for in terms of preventing this kind of thing from playing out again. The court had an opportunity to weigh-in on the merits of the case, regardless of the timeline of Governor’s Pritzker’s rules expiring - but they did not do that, either.
Attorneys for both sides, however, urged the Fourth District justices to still consider the governor’s appeal on the merits, particularly on the question of whether Judge Grischow had abused her discretion in determining the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claims that Pritzker overstepped the limits of his authority in imposing the mask mandate and other COVID school restrictions.
But the Fourth District justices declined that invitation to weigh in on the merits of Grischow’s ruling.
Instead, they essentially punted on the question, declaring the expiration of the rules, and JCAR’s decision to block Pritzker from reimposing the rules, means the governor’s appeal is legally pointless. The state, they said, no longer has any rules to enforce, and Grischow’s TRO no longer has any rules to restrain.
In a sense, the court weighed-in on the timeline. There was no definitive decision to help us down the road. And to add to the confusion, the justices seemed to affirm the ability of schools to “act independently” - or make their own decisions. Hundreds of schools have switched to mask-optional in recent weeks, while others have stuck with masking and other measures.
And of course, Governor Pritzker has already announced that his administration will appeal the latest ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court. So we’re on the next front in the battle against forced masks in schools.
At present, there is no timeline on the IL Supreme Court appeal - except to report that the request from the Governor is for an expedited review. More to come on this subject, but for now, students in mask-optional districts can thank the efforts of the parents across the state and their legal teams in checking the Governor’s emergency powers after two long years of masking, testing and quarantines.
And not to dwell on the negative, but the standoff in Canada continues to devolve into a sadder (and scarier) situation. Events took a turn for the worse on Friday, as the crackdown on the Freedom Convoy escalated with government demonstrations of force and dangerous encounters between police and protesters. The video below depicts one of those encounters widely circulating social media on Friday night - WARNING: the video includes graphic language in the aftermath of protestors being knocked to the ground and apparently trampled by police on horseback.
Thoughts and prayers for the people of Canada right now - this is not a situation that even seemed remotely possible just a short time ago. There are conflicting reports on the fate of those involved, but let’s hope that no one was seriously injured - and for the sake of people on both sides, that a path to peace and freedom is found quickly.
As an American watching these events play out in Canada with a heavy heart, I am reminded of our special bond with the Canadian people - we share much more than just a border. Going to Blackhawks games against a Canadian team was always a treat, as the national anthems of both countries would play before puck drop. I thought I’d share a link to one of those videos below, as a tribute to simpler times when our teams competed in sport (and wow, what a rivalry the Hawks-Canucks had back then…):
That clip is over ten years old, and it still gets me going! More on this and everything else in the days to come. Thanks for reading!
-G