The lawsuit argues neither state law or any union-related negotiation or arbitration should allow Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Corrections to ignore due process rights afforded to IDOC workers under the state's public health laws
Clay County Judge Michael McHaney, the only judge to date to rule against Gov. JB Pritzker's continued use of COVID-19-related emergency powers, has ordered the governor to appear in court on Aug. 14 on a contempt petition from State Rep. Darren Bailey
Southern Illinois state lawmaker Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, has petitioned a judge in Clay County to hold Gov. JB Pritzker in indirect civil contempt for continuing to issue COVID-19-related emergency orders even after the judge ruled Pritzker couldn't do so.
State Rep. Darren Bailey says Gov. JB Pritzker has gone to "great lengths to contrive" legal reasons to avoid allowing a southern Illinois county judge to rule on the question of whether Pritzker had the authority to shut down the state in response to COVID-19.
Gov. JB Pritzker's reply to filings by State Rep. Darren Bailey and the U.S. Justice Department opposing him does not address accusations the governor is "forum shopping" in the dispute over whether the case belongs in federal or southern Illinois county court.
Clay County Judge Michael McHaney has weighed in again on Gov. JB Pritzker's use of executive power during the COVID-19 crisis, granting another temporary restraining order against Pritzker, this time to a southern Illinois tanning salon owner.
Steven Weinhoeft, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, says Gov. JB Pritzker was wrong to try to take State Rep. Darren Bailey's lawsuit to federal court, and the governor's interpretation of state law concerning his emergency powers is wrong, as well.
State Rep. Darren Bailey says a recently unearthed 2001 opinion from former Attorney General Jim Ryan "lays bare" the governor's emergency powers "overreach."
A judge from the Fourth Judicial Circuit will preside in the state's case against St. Clair County Circuit Judge Ronald Duebbert, according to an order signed by Chief Justice Lloyd Karmeier on Nov. 7.
