Republican lawmaker launches new legal challenge against Pritzker’s stay-at-home order

State Rep. John Cabello’s lawsuit is aimed at freeing more Illinoisans from the governor’s order.

By Jon Seidel and Tina Sfondeles Apr 29, 2020, 9:46am CDT


State Rep. John Cabello filed a lawsuit Wednesday designed to end Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order for many Illinois residents. Cabello website

A Republican lawmaker from northern Illinois has launched a second legal challenge against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order, this time aiming to free more Illinoisans from its restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The class-action lawsuit was filed Wednesday morning in Winnebago County Circuit Court by Rep. John M. Cabello, records show.

Cabello is represented by attorney Thomas G. DeVore, who also represents Rep. Darren Bailey, a Republican from Downstate Xenia, in a separate lawsuit that has already freed Bailey — but only Bailey — temporarily, from Pritzker’s order. The Pritzker administration is appealing the judge’s decision in the Bailey case, and the governor has called that lawsuit a “cheap political stunt.”

Cabello’s lawsuit seeks an injunction prohibiting Pritzker from entering any further stay-at-home orders against Cabello “and all citizens similarly situated.”

The ruling that freed Bailey came down Monday. Pritzker argued the lawsuit was “designed so that the representative can see his name in headlines, and unfortunately he has briefly been successful in that most callous of feats.”

Bailey’s lawsuit argued the governor has overstepped his executive powers in extending his stay-at-home order beyond 30 days. State lawyers have argued that nothing in the law stops the governor from issuing successive 30-day orders.

A transcript of the Monday hearing in Bailey’s lawsuit shows an at-times frustrated judge — with his own opinion about the zero deaths in his hometown county, and about other things, such as Pritzker’s behavior at his daily briefings.

When state lawyer Thomas Verticchio mentioned he heard snickering in the courtroom about people dying from the coronavirus, Clay County Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney interjected.

“Counsel, I couldn’t agree with you more that it’s no joke and, while we’re on that subject, since you brought it up, at a recent press conference, this governor was asked by a reporter what about easing restrictions in counties in Illinois that don’t have COVID or don’t need it, and his response was, wait for it, laughter,” McHaney said.

“I agree,” the judge said. “It ain’t funny.”

Cabello has been in the Illinois House since 2012. He’s a former police officer who is still on the roster for the Rockford Police Department. Both Cabello and Bailey are supporters of President Trump. Cabello in 2016 served as the co-chair of the Illinois Trump for President campaign.