State lawmaker sues governor for stay-home order

Posted on April 25, 2020
State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), in a Facebook video outside the Clay County Courthouse, said Gov. Pritzker lacked the authority to extend the order without the legislature’s approval. (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker’s extension of the “stay home” order is not going over well with some Illinoisans. A state lawmaker is going so far as to sue him.

State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), in a Facebook video outside the Clay County Courthouse, said Pritzker lacked the authority to extend the order without the legislature’s approval.

Bailey says Pritzker violated a law that was enacted “sometime during the seventies or eighties. It was so far back, we’re not sure when.”

Bailey added, “It’s time for a new day, friends — a common-sense movement that values life, that values integrity, that values (honesty).”

Another of Bailey’s arguments is that Downstate is so sparsely populated, with far fewer instances of coronavirus than the Chicago area, that there should be separate rules for the different areas of the state. He and other Downstate Republican representatives are part of an “Eastern Bloc” which has advocated for the Chicago area to become a separate state.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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