In April, State Representative Darren Bailey, a Republican from the 109th District, filed a lawsuit against Illinois Governor Pritzker, claiming that the stay-at-home order unfairly affected members of his county. Judge Michael McHaney, of Clay County, issued a temporary restraining order but, it was only given to Bailey himself, opining that Bailey “has a clearly ascertainable right in need of immediate protection, namely his liberty interest to be free from Pritzker’s executive order of quarantine in his own home.”
Pritzker moved the case to federal court (Southern District of Illinois) and now the United States Department of Justice has also intervened to challenge and support the order and the removal of the case to federal court.
After Bailey successfully challenged Pritzker, James Mainer, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and small business owner file a similar lawsuit in Clay County. Judge McHaney issued the same ruling for Mainer as he did Bailey, however, he took the opportunity to unload on Pritzker.
“Since the inception of this insanity, the following regulations, rules or consequences have occurred: I won’t get COVID if I get an abortion but I will get COVID if I get a colonoscopy. Selling pot is essential but selling goods and services at a family-owned business is not. Pot wasn’t even legal and pot dispensaries didn’t even exist in this state until five months ago and, in that five months, they have become essential but a family-owned business in existence for five generations is not.
A family of six can pile in their car and drive to Carlyle Lake without contracting COVID but, if they all get in the same boat, they will. We are told that kids rarely contract the virus and sunlight kills it, but summer youth programs, sports programs are cancelled. Four people can drive to the golf course and not get COVID but, if they play in a foursome, they will. If I go to Walmart, I won’t get COVID but, if I go to church, I will. Murderers are released from custody while small business owners are threatened with arrest if they have the audacity to attempt to feed their families.
And the bombs kept dropping…
Our economy is shut down because of a flu virus with a 98 percent plus survival rate. Doctors and experts say different things weekly. The defendant cites models in his opposition. The only thing experts will agree on is that all models are wrong and some are useful. The Centers for Disease Control now says the virus is not easily spread on surfaces.
The defendant in this case orders you to stay home and pronounces that, if you leave the state, you are putting people in danger, but his family members traveled to Florida and Wisconsin because he deems such travel essential. One initial rationale why the rules don’t apply to him is that his family farm had animals that needed fed. Try selling that argument to farmers who have had to slaughter their herds because of disruption in the supply chain.
Here is the best part…
When laws do not apply to those who make them, people are not being governed, they are being ruled. Make no mistake, these executive orders are not laws. They are royal decrees. Illinois citizens are not being governed, they are being ruled. The last time I checked Illinois citizens are also Americans and Americans don’t get ruled. The last time a monarch tried to rule Americans, a shot was fired that was heard around the world. That day led to the birth of a nation consensually governed based upon a document which ensures that on this day in this, any American courtroom tyrannical despotism will always lose and liberty, freedom and the constitution will always win.
Wow! You can read the full order here.
Oh and lastly, Illinois lawmakers have started the process to recall Governor Pritzker they are fed up.
