Late Friday, the Illinois Supreme Court denied Governor JB Pritzker’s petition to appeal the Appellate Court decision on his school mask, vaccine, and testing mandate, and eliminated the temporary restraining order (TRO) that was in effect, deeming it moot. The Court also denied the Governor’s stay on the TRO since it is moot. In response to the decisions, and the subsequent and irrelevant announcement by the Governor to eliminate his perceived school mask mandate starting Monday, State Senator Donald DeWitte (R-St. Charles) issued the following statement:
“The Governor’s declaration of victory yesterday is indicative of his refusal to respect the actions of the two other co-equal branches of Illinois Government. The plain fact is that Gov. Pritizker lost his right to appeal. His spin-doctoring is just another attempt to save face on an issue where he was clearly acting outside of his authority.
“Gov. Pritzker’s attempt to spin the rulings to his advantage is disingenuous at best, as he once again refuses to acknowledge the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) decision that suspended his continued overreach with these mandates. Even the Supreme Court recognized the significance of the JCAR decision when they declared the TRO was no longer needed since the emergency rule was no longer in effect.
“Governor Pritzker has taken this case as far as it can go, and its time for him to acknowledge that he represents just one of three branches of state government that hold equal power.”
Read the decision denying the petition to appeal and to vacate the TRO here.
Read the decision denying the request to stay and TRO here.