In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor of Illinois has relied on authority under the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act (the “Act”) to impose sweeping limitations on nearly all aspects of life for citizens of Illinois that are alleged to extend beyond the 30-day time period imposed by the Illinois legislature for the Governor’s exercise of emergency powers granted under the Act. Illinois state representative Darren Bailey is challenging certain actions of Governor J.B. Pritzker in a lawsuit brought in Illinois state court. Governor Pritzker subsequently removed the case to federal district court.
In its statement of interest, the United States explains that this dispute belongs in Illinois state court, and that Representative Bailey has raised substantial questions as to whether the Governor’s current response to COVID-19 is lawful. Even in the face of a pandemic, the Department of Justice notes that states must comply with their own laws in making sensitive policy choices in a manner responsive to the people and, in doing so, both respect and serve the goals of our broader federal structure, including the guarantee of due process in the U.S. Constitution.
