EAST ST. LOUIS – State police stormed a Carlyle bar and shut it down on May 8, according to a complaint challenging Gov. JB Pritzker’s virus order.
Dookie’s Set sued Pritzker in Clinton County court on May 11, asserting that he didn’t identify his constitutional power to seize control.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul removed the complaint to U.S. district court on the same date, claiming Dookie’s raised issues under the U.S. Constitution.
Also on May 11, Raoul removed to district court a suit that Louisville hair stylist Sonja Harrison filed against Pritzker in Clay County on May 8.
Thomas DeVore and Erik Hyam of Greenville represent Dookie’s and Harrison.
DeVore and Hyam also represent state Rep. Darren Bailey, who obtained but later moved to vacate a temporary restraining order against Pritzker.
Circuit Judge Michael McHaney presides over that suit in Clay County.
In complaints for Dookie’s and Harrison, DeVore argues that Pritzker’s suggestion of constitutional authority was nothing but conclusory.
He wrote that Pritzker “is charged with the faithful execution of the laws of the state and not the making of laws.”
“Police powers are vested in the sound discretion of the legislative branch of government,” DeVore wrote.
That branch, “placed the supreme authority over closure of businesses due to public health risks within the Department of Public Health,” he wrote.
He claims that any interpretation of public health law that interfered with a fundamental right would be unconstitutional.
In the complaint for Dookie’s, DeVore alleges that deeming the bar a health risk was arbitrary and capricious.
He wrote that at no time did the local health department investigate Dookie’s regarding suspicion of contamination with any infectious disease.
He wrote that at no time did Dookie’s get notice the premises were being closed.
“Pritzker must have presumed Dookie heard about executive order 32 which stripped its fundamental liberties at one of Pritzker’s daily press briefings,” he wrote.
He wrote that Dookie’s reopened “due to the looming financial catastrophe approaching as a result of having been forcibly closed for weeks on end.”
The local health department didn’t resist, he wrote, and the sheriff’s advised Dookie’s it wouldn’t enforce Pritzker’s order.
He wrote that before 1 a.m. on May 8, “eight armed Illinois state troopers stormed Dookie’s premises.”
“When one of the state troopers curtly asked Dookie’s why it was reopening in violation of Pritzker’s order, the owner told the trooper he needed to feed his family,” he wrote.
“At no time prior to storming Dookie’s premises did the state police advise the Clinton County sheriff’s department of its intentions.”
He wrote that no place could be closed except with the consent of the owner or upon a court order.
He wrote that the state health department must prove all other reasonable means of correction are exhausted and no less restrictive alternative exists.
In the complaint for Harrison, who calls her hair shop Visible Images, DeVore wrote that she has earned a living as a stylist for 35 years.
He wrote that Pritzker ordered state and municipal police to seize and restrain citizens for exercising fundamental rights.
Removal of the case to federal court presents a hurdle for DeVore and Hyam, because the Southern District hasn’t admitted them.
Court clerk Margaret Robertie advised them to seek admission immediately.