GREENVILLE, Ill. — A class-action lawsuit filed in Macoupin County is seeking to block the statewide mask mandate in Illinois schools.
“The law as it stands right now, in my position, and in my opinion as a lawyer, says that a school district or the Governor or the Department of Health can’t just force a mask on somebody with them having no ability to object,” said attorney Thomas DeVore.
DeVore has drawn attention across Illinois for similar cases against mask mandates, but he claims many people are missing the point.
“It has nothing to do with masks,” said DeVore. “Masks are just the topic of conversation. It’s 100% to do with due process. That’s what every court who has looked at this in the last two to three months has said.”
His latest lawsuit against Gov. Pritzker, the Illinois State Board of Education, and the Illinois Dept. of Public Health is more than 300 pages long but DeVore says the basis for his argument is simple.
“It’s basic stuff you learned in civics that’s been abandoned for the last year and a half or almost two years where the Governor, for whatever reason, is running this state by executive fiat," DeVore said. "He’s writing them in tantamount to lawmaking, which he can’t do.”
That’s why DeVore has added more than 145 school districts as defendants, including Carlyle, where the board initially ignored the state guidance before reversing course after being placed on probation.
“They should’ve taken a stand,” said DeVore. “I understand the position that they’re in, but at the end of the day you have to do what’s right. Taking the path of least resistance is not always correct.”
“He’s a grifter who is taking money from parents who are being taken advantage of,” said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
DeVore said he isn’t seeking financial compensation in this case.
“If our legislature, which is in session, wants to pass some laws that say that kids should be wearing masks in schools during these circumstances or that school districts can send kids home related to COVID,” said DeVore. “If they want to do that then these issues go away.”
The case is set to be heard on Nov. 5 at 1:30 p.m. in a Macoupin County courtroom.