Pritzker Moves Bailey's Legal Challenge To Federal Court
SPRINGFIELD, IL — A day before a scheduled state court hearing on the legality of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's statewide stay-at-home order, attorneys for the governor filed paperwork moving a challenge from State Rep. Darren Bailey to federal court.
The filing from the Illinois Attorney General's Office, which is representing the governor in the case, argues the case belongs in a federal court because the state representative has alleged violations of constitutional rights.
In a statement, Bailey's lawyer said the notice "could perhaps be the most disreputable invocation of federal jurisdiction ever seen in modern times." Greenville attorney Tom DeVore described Pritzker's effort as "frivolous" and filed an emergency motion asking a federal judge to send the case back to state court.
"[Pritzker's] vexatious conduct has already resulted in delays and expenditures of time and resources responding to calls for intervention by the Illinois Supreme Court and specious motions to transfer venue," it said, asking a judge to remand the case back to Clay County Circuit Court.
Fourth Judicial Circuit Judge Michael McHaney, the Clay County judge who had been due to hear the case Friday afternoon, has expressed skepticism that Pritzker's order is proper. He previously issued a temporary restraining order blocking the state from enforcing the stay-at-home order on Bailey, a Xenia Republican, which was subsequently lifted at the request of the lawmaker.
Bailey filed an amended version of his complaint last week, and Pritzker responded with a motion seeking to move the case to Sangamon County, which McHaney rejected Friday.
Attorneys for Pritzker last week also asked to move separate legal challenges to the stay-at-home order filed by DeVore on behalf the owners of two biker bars — Poopy's v. Pritzker and Dookie's v. Pritzker — and a hair salon from Carroll, Clay and Clinton county courts to federal court. Two federal judges asked to review whether Pritzker's order violates First Amendment religious freedom rights have so far sided with the governor.
"The Attorney General’s office will continue to defend the governor’s constitutional and statutory right to act to protect the health and safety of all Illinois residents," Annie Thompson, a spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office, said in a statement.
"The law gives a defendant the right to remove a case to federal court when a plaintiff files a complaint in state court alleging a violation of rights that are enshrined the U.S. Constitution, and we have done so in several other cases challenging the governor’s executive orders," Thompson said. "Because Mr. Bailey’s amended complaint alleges violations of his federal constitutional rights, we removed his case to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois."
On Wednesday, Bailey was tossed out of the Bank of Springfield Center in Springfield, where the Illinois House convened for the first time since Pritzker's stay-at-home order after refusing to wear a face covering. He was escorted out after a bipartisan 81-27 vote. Bailey returned to the area Thursday wearing a mask, in compliance with new rules adopted by the House for the three-day special session.
Read More: Bailey v. Pritzker - Notice of Removal and Emergency Motion to Remand
This article originally appeared on the Across Illinois Patch
