Prairie State Wire

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s expansion of his executive order that kept most Illinois residents in their homes and shut down many businesses has hit a legal roadblock and may not take effect on May 1 but there are still Illinois citizens planning to protest the shutdown. 

According to WTTW, there are protests planned in Springfield and Chicago for May 1.

Naperville resident Josh Ellis is part of a group called American Revolution 2.0. He says the point of the rallies is to raise awareness of the lack of constitutionality of the executive order.

“Our goal is to have the unconstitutional governor mandate removed completely,” said Ellis on April 20. 

Reopen Illinois is another group that is participating in urging Pritzker to change his mind and allow the state’s businesses and public spaces to open, in spite of the threat of spread of the coronavirus. The organization has a mailing list, which they say is an alternate space to communicate in case its Facebook group shuts down. That website is https://reopenil.weebly.com/.

There are multiple groups on Facebook using the name Reopen Illinois. The largest has 23,600 members as of April 28, and is a private group. It is likely connected to the Reopen Illinois Weekly site where the mailing list sign-up is hosted. 

There are several other groups that seek to raise awareness of the effects of the shutdown on businesses in Illinois. Some are urging the recall of Pritzker. The Reopen Illinois save our workers, restaurants and businesses group has added an event for May 1, a noon a rally to recall the governor.