Judge Issues Restraining Order Against IL Stay at Home Order

A judge in southern Illinois ruled Monday that the Illinois governor's stay-at-home order to stem the spread of the coronavirus exceeds his emergency authority and violates individual civil rights.

Clay County Circuit Judge Michael McHaney sided with Republican Rep. Darren Bailey’s lawsuit seeking to undo Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker's far-reaching executive order which has closed schools, shut down nonessential businesses, and limited movement by individuals because of the potentially deadly COVID-19.

At his daily briefing on the state’s response to COVID-19, Pritzker reacted sternly, accusing Bailey, a Xenia resident, of being “blindly devoted to ideology and the pursuit of personal celebrity.”