A southern Illinois attorney, who has spearheaded many of the legal challenges to Gov. JB Pritzker’s anti-COVID-19 emergency powers, has now filed suit to challenge the state’s new health rules for high school sports.
On July 13, lawyer Tom DeVore and a woman, identified as Katya King, filed suit on behalf of their two children in downstate Montgomery County court, alleging the Illinois High School Association, the organization that controls high school sports in Illinois, exceeded its authority and illegally allowed Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health to set the standards by which Illinois high school athletes can return to playing fields and courts this fall.
In the complaint, DeVore and King are identified as the parents and guardians of two youths, listed only as A.D. and M.D., who are students enrolled through the Hillsboro Community Unit School District #3. The district is located about 53 miles south of Springfield.
Craig Anderson
| Illinois High School Association
The complaint was filed against the IHSA; IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson; and the Hillsboro school district.
The complaint centers on the so-called “Return to Play” plan established by the IHSA. The lawsuit says the IHSA established the plan to help guide high school athletes back into practice and competition, after their sports had been shut down by Pritzker’s orders this spring, in response to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
According to the complaint, that plan was approved by the IHSA and sent out to school districts, including the Hillsboro district, in early July.
However, about a week later, the complaint said Anderson “sent additional correspondence” to IHSA schools, adding three additional requirements to the plan.
These included prohibiting physical contact and contact drills, as well as scrimmages; requiring all players to “always wear masks;” and setting a “strict 50-person limit to all indoor activities,” including socially-distanced spectators.
According to the complaint, Anderson told the schools that “these changes were directives” from the Illinois Department of Public Health and “the Governor’s office.”
The additional mandates were not submitted to the IHSA’s board for consideration, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, the additional mandates were delivered by Anderson after he received an email from Deputy Governor Jesse Ruiz demanding those changes to the IHSA’s plan.
“I know that changing recently-released guidance is difficult, but I know you appreciate the changes necessitated by ever-changing public health conditions,” Ruiz wrote in the email to Anderson on July 8. “Things literally need to be assessed by the day.”
In the email, Ruiz said the statewide changes were required because of an outbreak of coronavirus in suburban Lake Zurich, in Lake County, in which at least 10 students tested positive for COVID-19 and one parent was hospitalized. An email from IDPH Director Ngozi Ezike blamed the outbreak on “July 4th parties, sleepovers, other social gatherings.”
In his complaint, DeVore noted Anderson’s correspondence to Hillsboro’s district superintendent indicated the IHSA did not have the legal authority, the ability or the will to “police” its member schools for compliance with the rules. However, Anderson told member schools the changes to the Return to Play “guidance” should be followed, as approval by the board was a “formality,” since the changes were demanded by the IDPH and the governor’s office.
However, DeVore’s complaint indicated the Hillsboro district told parents of student athletes that they “are required to follow the rules promulgated by the IHSA if they desire to participate in sports activities.”
In his complaint, DeVore alleges the IHSA is “beyond their authority” under their organizational constitution and bylaws to issue the new Return to Play mandates, and that the IHSA has improperly “colluded” with the governor’s office and the IDPH on issuing the allegedly unlawful conduct rules changes.
The complaint asks the court to issue an injunction forbidding the IHSA and the Hillsboro district from enforcing the Return to Play plan, and particularly the changes to the IHSA COVID-19 Return to Play guidance, issued July 9.
DeVore is representing himself and King in the action.
DeVore has represented other clients suing Pritzker over the state’s enforcement of executive orders issued by Pritzker using emergency powers he has claimed under Illinois state law to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
DeVore most notably has represented State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), who has secured a judgment from a judge in Clay County in far southeastern Illinois, declaring Pritzker overstepped his authority in continuing to govern by emergency executive order, even though the judge found those powers should have expired in early April.
That decision, however, has been an outlier among court decisions addressing Pritzker’s use of emergency powers. In most rulings, to date, judges in both federal and state courts have backed Pritzker’s assertions that the governor has the authority under state law to continue governing by executive order until the governor determines the COVID-19 emergency has ended.
Prtizker is seeking to appeal the Clay County judge's decision.