Prairie State Wire

The Illinois Republican Party's next steps in its lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker over his pandemic-driven ban on gatherings of 10 or more appear limited following failures to get an injunction on the ban from federal judges.

Liberty Justice Center, the non-profit conservative public interest litigation group backing the state GOP in its efforts to get the ban at least temporarily lifted, have lost before an Illinois-based federal judge and a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

On July 2, Liberty Justice Center President and co-founder Patrick Hughes called the decision by the first judge "disappointing."

Earlier that same day, U.S. District Court Judge Sara L. Ellis denied a request in the lawsuit for a temporary restraining order that would have permitted a GOP fundraising gathering. Allowing that "would pose serious risks to public health," Ellis said in her order.

"An injunction that allows plaintiffs to gather in large groups so that they can engage in more effective speech is simply not in the public interest," Ellis said in her 21-page order. "Such relief would expand beyond any gatherings and negatively impact non-parties by increasing their risk of exposure. Thus, the harms tilt significantly in the governor’s favor as he seeks to prevent the spread of this virulent virus."

Two days later, the Liberty Justice Center filed an emergency application for writ of injunction relief, acknowledging that "fighting COVID-19 is doubtless a compelling state interest." The emergency application alleged Pritzker's ban of "narrow tailoring because it treats similarly situated speakers differently."

"The First and 14th Amendments both guarantee equal treatment of similar speakers," the emergency application continued. "Government may no more favor one particular speaker or category of speech than it may target one for disfavor."

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied the emergency application the same day it was filed.

Decisions by both justices were a serious blow in the Illinois GOP's case against the governor and his executive order banning large gatherings.

In late June, the state's attorney general's office ruled that the ban does not violate free speech freedoms.

Plaintiffs in the case filed in June have found especially irksome Pritzker's attendance at masked but not-especially-socially-distanced rallies and other large gatherings, despite his own ban. Those rallies have included protest in Matteson on June 8 and a large Juneteenth gathering in Chicago.

Pritzker defended his attendance at those rallies, saying it can be "very difficult to get socially distant when an awful lot of people show up, and I’m not going to run away."

"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," Pritzker wrote in a Herald & Review story published June 10. "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."

In the same news story, Illinois Republican Party spokesman Joe Hackler said there were better ways for Pritzker to spend his time besides "flaunting his disregard for his own rules."

"If the governor wants to show solidarity with protesters, his time is better spent on the phone with legislators trying to build a coalition for change," Hackler said in the news story. "He could be calling an immediate special session. Instead, he poses for a photo-op while undermining whatever credibility he had left on his coronavirus restrictions."