Pritzker Withdraws School Mask Mandate After Supreme Court Sends Lawsuit Back to Circuit Court
The Illinois Supreme Court Chamber in Springfield.
Depending on which side you talk to, Governor JB Pritzker either won big or lost big with the Illinois Supreme Court Friday night.
The Pritzker administration had asked the Supreme Court to clarify the Governor’s authority under both the Illinois Emergency Management Act and the Illinois Public Health Act.
In their brief to the Supreme Court, attorneys argued the Appellate Court left too many unanswered questions.
“The lack of clarity in the law in this area caused by the circuit and appellate courts has practical effects, too, as school districts, parents, students, and staff across the state struggle understand what is required of them going forward,” attorneys wrote. “So long as this and other questions presented by this case remain unresolved, state defendants will face uncertainty about the scope of their authority to protect the public from the ongoing pandemic, and the public will continue receiving mixed messages about the legality of the Governor’s EO’s and the state agencies’ emergency rules.”
Instead, the Supreme Court denied the request to take up that issue, kicking it back for a Sangamon County Circuit Judge to take up.
The court did vacate the Temporary Restraining Order against the school mask mandate, declaring it moot after a legislative panel refused to accept rules to enforce Pritzker’s order.
Late Friday, following the ruling, Republicans like Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) called on Pritzker to step back from his executive actions on .
“The Governor should accept defeat and allow us to begin to govern the way we ought to be—through collaboration of the Legislature and local stakeholders,” McConchie said in a statement.
Pritzker’s office did not respond to The Illinoize Friday, but told the Chicago Tribune he would instead said he would allow his school mask mandate to expire Monday along with the rest of the statewide indoor mask mandate.
“I’m also extremely pleased to say that because the CDC has recommended that masks are needed only in areas of high transmission, the state of Illinois will move forward to remove our school mask mandate, effective Monday,” Pritzker said. “We will recommend that all school districts follow CDC guidance and will update our existing guidance in the coming days.”
In a video statement posted on Facebook late Friday, Tom DeVore, a southern Illinois attorney who brought the suit, said the Supreme Court made it clear Pritzker does not have the authority to make his orders.
“JB Pritzker has no authority in his executive orders to do anything in a vacuum,” DeVore said. “There is no mandate under an executive order. Because [the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules didn’t adopt rules], the executive order means nothing.”
DeVore is using his heightened profile from a string of legal challenges over pandemic executive orders to launch a campaign for Illinois Attorney General.
Some school districts, like Chicago Public Schools and downstate Urbana schools have yet to pull back on mask mandates, but it is expected the vast majority of districts in the state will return to the classroom Monday mask free.