CLAY COUNTY, Ill. — A circuit judge in Clay County, Illinois, granted a restraining order that would temporarily block Gov. J.B. Pritzker's extension of the state's stay-at-home order for the lawmaker who filed the suit.
On Thursday, Pritzker announced he would extend the state's stay-at-home order through May 30 and require residents to wear masks in public.
Later that day, Republican State Rep. Darren Bailey filed a lawsuit saying the governor "overextended his power by issuing additional ‘stay at home’ orders after his original disaster proclamation, which expired on April 9th, 2020.” On Monday, a judge in Clay County sided with Bailey and issued a restraining order that would temporarily block the stay-at-home order as it applies to Bailey. The order does not apply to anyone else.
“I’ve asked him since day one to respect local governments throughout the state and he’s refused, but I believe this lawsuit is the mechanism by which ‘we the people’ will be allowed to govern ourselves as our constitution demands,” Rep. Bailey said in a statement Monday.
The current stay-at-home order, which is set to expire on April 30, is still in place.
During his daily briefing, Pritzker said his office plans to move quickly to have the ruling overturned and called the lawsuit "reckless."
"Representative Bailey’s decision to go to the courts is an insult to all Illinoisans who have been lost during this COVID-19 crisis. It’s a danger to millions of people who might get ill because of his recklessness," Pritzker said Monday. "Disasters don’t evaporate on a 30-day time frame. Legislators took this into account when they wrote this law. We will fight this lawsuit to the furthest means possible."
Gov. Pritzker also took a moment to "address those who think that coronavirus is just a Chicago or a Cook County problem and that downstate Illinois is immune or doesn't need restrictions."
"Folks, that's just not how this virus operates," Gov. Pritzker stressed. "COVID-19 knows no county or regional boundaries."
The governor said residents shouldn't just focus on the total number of cases but should also look at the infection rate.
Illinois reported 1,980 new cases and 50 new deaths Monday. Illinois has 45,883 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,983 deaths, most of which are in the Chicago area. The Metro East has 60 deaths and just over 1,000 cases.