Illinois Judge rules “Stay-at-Home” no longer able to stand

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Following a lawsuit placed by GOP Rep. Darren Bailey, a Clay County Judge has ruled Governor Pritzker’s Stay-at-Home order no longer able to stand.

As of the 2010 census, Clay County had a total population of just under 14,000 residents. The ruling has the potential to affect the direct public health of millions of Illinois residents during a global pandemic.

“There are legislators who don’t understand this,” Governor Pritzker said today. “Representative Darren Bailey’s decision to take to the courts to try and dismantle public health directives designed to keep people safe is an insult to all Illinoisans who have been lost during this COVID-19 crisis. And it’s a danger to millions of people who may get ill because of his recklessness.”

Governor Pritzker said today both his team along with the Attorney General’s Office will fight this legal battle to the furthest extent possible, so that public health and common sense prevail.

“I strongly encourage all municipal level leaders, as well as the people of Illinois who are our strongest weapon against this virus, to follow the advice of our scientists here in Illinois and across the nation, of IDPH and the CDC and continue to follow the guidelines of our stay-at-home order,” Governor Pritzker said this afternoon.

Read the Governor’s full statement from today regarding the ruling below:

“I have affirmed many times over that Republicans and Democrats alike, public servants from all corners of Illinois have come together since the earliest days of this public health crisis to make incredibly difficult choices. 

Understanding that, painful as our actions might be, the question boils down to life and death.”

COVID-19 is responsible for denying the people of Illinois the precious moments of togetherness and steadiness of routine that have been put on pause in response to this global pandemic. The stay-at-home order has prevented tens of thousands of illnesses and thousands of deaths.

History will remember those who put politics aside to come together to keep people safe. It will also remember those who so blindly devoted to ideology and the pursuit of personal celebrity that they made an enemy of science, and of reason. Representative Darren Bailey’s decision to take to the courts to try and dismantle public health directives designed to keep people safe, is an insult to all Illinoisans who have been lost during this COVID-19 crisis. 

And it’s a danger to millions of people who may get ill because of his recklessness.

At best, no one is better off because of this ruling, and at worse, people’s health and safety will suffer tremendously. In Illinois and nationally we are operating on decades of precedent in terms of how disaster proclamations work, from floods to tornadoes and now a global pandemic. Disasters don’t necessarily evaporate on a 30-day time frame. The legislator took that into account when they wrote this law. In collaboration with the Attorney General’s Office, my team and I will fight this legal battle to the furthest extent possible to ensure that the public health and common sense prevail.

In the interim, we will be issuing new public health directives so that we can continue to respond to this public health crisis. At this time I strongly encourage all municipal level leaders, as well as the people of Illinois who are our strongest weapon against this virus, to follow the advice of our scientists here in Illinois and across the nation, of IDPH and the CDC and continue to follow the guidelines of our stay-at-home order.

This ruling has put the people of Illinois at risk. I sincerely hope this matter will be brought to a swift resolution so we can go back to placing our undivided attention on the work of keeping people safe.”

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