March 28, 2024
Coronavirus

Downstate parent sues Pritzker over school mask mandate

The lawsuit was filed by attorney Thomas Devore, who has challenged Pritzker’s pandemic executive orders multiple times in court

A downstate parent has sued Gov. J.B. Pritzker claiming that his Aug. 4 school mask mandate related to COVID-19 is “overreach” and “usurps” the authority of local districts.

The lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of Clinton County resident Jeremy Pate, who has a child attending school in Breese Elementary District 12.

Last week, the governor ordered students, teacher and staff at all public and private schools to wear masks indoors to prevent spread of COVID-19. The mandate affects pre-K through grade 12 schools and comes as the highly infectious COVID-19 delta variant is proliferating across the U.S.

“No such authority has ever been delegated to Pritzker” by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, Pate contends. It would take “significant mental gymnastics” to prove the order is legitimate and the law contains no language granting the governor “the authority to usurp the control of the local school district,” the lawsuit states.

Breese District 12, east of St. Louis, has approved a policy stating “mask use is recommended, but not required, indoors for students, staff and visitors who are not fully vaccinated.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends universal masking in schools, as does the American Academy of Pediatrics, but “far too few school districts” were following federal guidelines, Pritkzer said.

“As governor, it’s my duty to take immediate and urgent action to slow the spread of the delta variant” of COVID-19. “People are dying that don’t have to die,” Pritzker said Aug. 4.

The lawsuit was filed by attorney Thomas Devore, who has challenged Pritzker’s pandemic executive orders multiple times in court, including representing state Rep. Darren Bailey, a Xenia Republican, who opposed the stay at home order in 2020. He is running for judge on the 5th Appellate District Court.

Clinton County is listed by the Centers for Disease Control as having a “high” transmission of COVID-19 cases. The county has nearly 237 new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people over the last seven days, compared to 91.8 new infections per 100,000 people in Cook County, for example.