A state representative from Winnebago County has filed a lawsuit on behalf of all Illinois residents challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order extension.
The class-action lawsuit was filed Wednesday morning by State Rep. John M. Cabello in Winnebago County Circuit Court, court records show.
Cabello, a Republican from Machesney Park, says that this lawsuit differs from State Rep. Darren Bailey’s suit in that it will not only apply him, but to everyone in Illinois.
“I’m tired of him getting up there and saying whatever he wants to say without anybody challenging him,” Cabello told WGN News. “He’s acting like a dictator, not a governor.”
Cabello is represented by Thomas DeVore, who is the same attorney representing Bailey.
On Monday, Clay County, Illinois Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney granted a restraining order against all of Pritzker’s stay-at-home orders, including the newest one set to go into effect on May 1.
However, that order only applies to Bailey, of Xenia, Illinois, who filed the lawsuit on April 23.
“This was a cheap political stunt. Designed so that the representative [Bailey] could see his name in headlines, and unfortunately he has briefly been successful in that most callous of feats,” Pritzker said during his daily press conference on Tuesday.
Pritzker said that his office and the Illinois Attorney General are appealing the decision in court and he is “reasonably confident” it will be overturned.
“My lawsuit asks the court to find that Gov. Pritzker overextended his power by issuing additional ‘stay at home’ orders after his original disaster proclamation, which expired on April 9, 2020,” Bailey said.
“While special emergency powers were granted to the governor through the Emergency Management Act in the late 1980’s by the Illinois General assembly, the unprecedented power and authority he wields under the current crisis calls for an immediate review and reconsideration of legislative intent,” Bailey said.
On Monday, Pritzker said that Bailey’s decision to file the lawsuit was an “insult to all Illinoisans” who have died during the pandemic.