Bailey’s Only Court Victory Overturned
Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), left, and attorney Tom DeVore speak to reporters this spring.
“The Governor is not limited to one disaster declaration.”
With that, Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow dealt a crushing blow Monday to the only court case State Representative and State Senator-Elect Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) has won in his bid to overturn Governor JB Pritzker’s COVID-19 Executive Orders.
The Illinois Supreme Court consolidated multiple cases into one, including the case Bailey won in Clay County, his home county, to Sangamon County.
The basis of Bailey’s legal argument was that under the state’s Emergency Management Act, Governor Pritzker was only allowed one 30-day disaster declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic. Clay County Judge Michael McHaney agreed with Bailey’s reading of the statute.
But, in her opinion issued Monday, Grischow wrote McHaney’s “reading of the statute produces unjust and harmful results that are contrary to [the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act.]”
She continued by calling out Bailey’s hypocrisy on the issue.
“The legislature did, however, recognize the Governor’s authority to issue successive disaster proclamations when they amended the Unemployment Insurance Act, the Sexual Assault Provider Emergency Treatment Act, and the Township Code,” she wrote. “Bailey, a member of the General Assembly, voted in favor of all three bills which recognized the Governor’s authority to issue successive disaster proclamations.”
Grischow agreed with a decision last month by the 2nd District Appellate Court, authored by former Republican DuPage County State’s Attorney and former GOP candidate for Attorney General Joe Birkett, which ruled the Governor is not limited to a single 30-day disaster proclamation.
Grischow was also elected as a Republican.
She also reversed McHaney’s decision making the case a class-action representing all people in the state of Illinois. Grischow says he had no authority to make such a declaration.
Judge Grischow also denied a request by Bailey to hold the Governor in contempt.
Neither Bailey nor DeVore commented publicly Monday.