CHICAGO _ The Illinois Republican Party sued Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in federal court Monday, seeking an exemption from the 10-person limit on public gatherings in the governor's May 29 executive order.
The state GOP, along with three local Republican groups, argue that Pritzker's limit on in-person gatherings, which is part of his plan to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, unfairly curtails people's First Amendment rights. Republicans are asking the court to exempt political parties from the cap on gatherings and seeking permission to hold in-person gatherings without size restrictions in the runup to the November election.
Republicans criticized Pritzker last week for attending a march with hundreds of other people June 8 in south suburban Matteson amid the fallout over the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer.
Illinois Republicans held a virtual state convention Saturday to comply with the governor's executive order.
"Last week the governor's double standard was on full display as he defended, joined and endorsed large gatherings that violate his very own executive orders," Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider said in a statement. "It's clear the governor keeps one set of rules for the people in politically advantageous photo ops and another for the rest of Illinois."
The lawsuit, filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, alleges that Pritzker's May 29 order violates the First and 14th Amendment rights of political parties, noting that an exemption to the size limit was given to religious groups.
"Unlike churches, political parties are barred from gathering in groups greater than 10," the lawsuit says. "And unlike protestors against police brutality, they have not been given an exemption based on his sympathy, recognition, and participation."
While many Republicans initially held off on criticizing Pritzker's stay-at-home order when it was first issued in March, tension has grown over the past three months as GOP officials have pushed the state to reopen its economy more quickly. Pritzker has faced a barrage of lawsuits over his orders, including from two Republican state representatives and from various church groups.
The Illinois Republican Party, Schaumburg Township Republican Organization, Northwest Side GOP Club and Will County Republican Central Committee are being represented in the lawsuit by the conservative-leaning Liberty Justice Center. The group is best known for its 2018 U.S. Supreme Court victory in a case involving fees paid to public-sector labor unions by workers who choose not to join. The so-called fair share fees were a prime target of then-Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Pritzker's initial statewide stay-at-home order took effect March 21. The state moved into phase three of Pritzker's "Restore Illinois" reopening plan May 29. With the move to phase four, expected to take place June 26 across all four regions designated in Pritzker's plan, gatherings could increase to up to 50 people.
The stay-at-home order has largely been upheld to date in the face of legal challenges by other churches and religious organizations, businesses and Republican lawmakers.
Pritzker last week defended his decision to take part in the Matteson march, saying he was "not going to run away" from taking a stand at a time when people across the U.S. are pushing for major changes to the way police interact African Americans and other minorities.
"I go places, and it's very difficult to get socially distant when an awful lot of people show up, and I'm not going to run away," the governor said last Tuesday at an event in Decatur.
"Especially at this moment, it's important to express ourselves. It's important to stand up for people's First Amendment rights, and I'm talking about the peaceful protesters across the state," he said. "It's important to have the governor stand with them on issues that are important to the state and progress that we need to make."
Pritzker was critical of rallies that took place outside the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago and the Illinois Capitol in Springfield protesting his stay-at-home order _ some of which included signs comparing the governor, who is Jewish, to Adolf Hitler _ but his administration did not take any action to stop them from happening.
The governor's office did not responded immediately Monday to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
On Monday, the governor argued that the steps he's taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus have helped Illinois see a decline in new infections and deaths while other states that have reopened more quickly are seeing new spikes.
State health officials reported 473 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 19 additional deaths, bringing the overall number of known cases to 133,016 and the death toll to 6,326 since the pandemic began.
The number of new cases is the lowest since March 30, when 460 were reported. The daily number of new cases has now been below 1,000 for 10 straight days, and the daily death toll has been less than 100 for 11 days. The 18 deaths reported Sunday and 19 reported Monday are the lowest and second-lowest totals since April 2, when 16 fatalities were recorded.
"You wouldn't want political decisions made, in my opinion, about how to manage through a pandemic," Pritzker said at an unrelated event in West Frankfort in southern Illinois. "It's not really about politics; it should be about science. And as a result of following the data, I think we've been doing this right."
