EDWARDSVILLE – Five students and five employees sued Illinois universities and colleges in Madison County Circuit Court on July 13, for a right to refuse masks, vaccines and tests.
Their counsel, Tom DeVore of Greenville, named Southern Illinois University Edwardsville among the defendants.
Plaintiff Jonah Richards is a student there.
DeVore claims the legislature vested the state public health department with authority on matters of public health.
“None of the defendants are the health department,” he wrote.
DeVore claims plaintiffs would be subjected to exclusion from school facilities.
He also claims none of them had been determined by a local health department to be a public health risk, and health departments where plaintiffs reside had taken no action averring they were exposed or might have been.
DeVore states that a health department may order quarantine or isolation on an immediate basis if protection from dangerous disease requires it.
He adds that in the event of an immediate order, a department should obtain consent or request a court order in 48 hours.
To obtain an order, a department must prove that a person it suspected or believed to have been exposed endangered public health, the suit states.
DeVore claims an individual who becomes subject to isolation or quarantine shall have the right to counsel.
He found it absurd to suggest that health departments must require consent or court order but trustees of the schools could disregard the same due process.
Plaintiffs Danielle Rauch is a student at Waubonsee College, Nicholas Weber at Northern Illinois University, Natalia Jesion at University of Illinois Chicago, and Colin Lane at University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign.
Plaintiffs Patrick Kennedy and Tom Siefert work at Malcolm X College. Orlando Cabrera works at Harper College, Mary Ann Carroll at Illinois Central College, and John Cody at Triton College.
DeVore won the Republican primary for attorney general in June and will run against incumbent Kwame Raoul in November. He gained popularity after successfully challenging mask mandates for public school students and faculty in Illinois.