Pritzker now faces stronger evidence that his continued lockdown is illegal

You’ll recalled that Rep. Darren Bailey, a Downstate Illinois GOP representative, created a storm when he filed a suit, challenging Gov. Pritzker’s emergency powers to shut down the state for more than 30 days.

After the judge granted Bailey a temporary restraining order against Pritzker’s unilateral action, Pritzker and Illinois Attorney General  Kwame Raoul appealed. Bailey voluntarily vacated the suit because, he indicated, that he has new, more powerful evidence that Pritzker has exceeded his authority by trying to govern the state by executive order.

Bailey has now amended his suit to include that new evidence, as fully explained  by Cook County Record:

…a 2001 opinion, written by then-Senior Assistant Attorney General Michael J. Luke, under former Attorney General Jim Ryan, that the governor’s powers under the Illinois Emergency Management Act are, in fact, limited to 30 days, just as Bailey asserts.

In that memo, written to former Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director Michael Chamness, Luke indicated it was the opinion of the Attorney General’s office that Illinois state law does not allow a governor to simply extend his use of emergency powers for as long as the governor believes is necessary.

The Illinois Emergency Management Act “clearly authorizes the Governor to exercise emergency powers for up to 30 days,” Luke wrote in the memo.

However, to allow an Illinois governor to simply continue to extend those emergency provisions, at whim, “would render the limitation clause meaningless,” Luke wrote.

Pritzker complains that this and other legal actions against his lockdown have damaged his ability to fight the coronavirus. No, Guv, it’s damaging your ability to crash the state’s economy for as long as you please. There are other, better ways, to fight the pandemic.

Related: “Suburban business owners say Pritzker shutdown orders are illegal property takings, state needs to pay”

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