(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Gov. JB Pritzker’s extension of the state’s stay-at-home order is not going over well with some Illinoisans. A state lawmaker is going so far as to sue him.
State Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, says Democrat Pritzker lacked the authority to extend the order without the Legislature’s approval.
Bailey says Pritzker violated a law that was enacted “sometime during the seventies or eighties.”
“It was so far back, we’re not sure when,” the lawmaker said in a Facebook video shot outside the Clay County Courthouse.
Another of Bailey’s arguments is that “downstate” Illinois is so sparsely populated — and with far fewer instances of coronavirus than the Chicago area — that there should be separate rules for the different areas of the state.
He and other Downstate Republican representatives are part of an “Eastern Bloc” that has advocated for the Chicago area to become a separate state.
On Friday, Pritzker called the suit an unwelcome “political maneuver” during a pandemic.
Pritzker says he will extend his stay-at-home order, which was to end April 30, for 30 more days.