Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker will get another chance to persuade a Springfield judge that she made a mistake in refusing to dismiss a lawsuit from a group of parents of high school athletes, who have challenged Pritzker’s authority to shut down high school sports in the name of fighting COVID-19.
On June 2, Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow denied Pritzker’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
“Based on what is contained in the pleadings and exhibits, the facts as pled do show a possibility of recovery (by the plaintiffs),” Grischow wrote in her June 2 order.
However, at the governor’s request, she then vacated the order for the time being at the governor’s request. That request was granted to give Pritzker and his lawyers from the Illinois Attorney General’s office until June 7 to file another reply brief in the proceedings, which could potentially generate a different result.
The flurry of activity comes as the latest steps in a court fight that dates back to December 2020. At that time, a group of parents filed suit in LaSalle County Circuit Court, in north central Illinois. In the lawsuit, the parents claim their teen children suffered under Pritzker’s COVID orders. Those orders barred nearly all high school sports from being played in any form throughout Illinois last fall and through a large portion of the winter.
Pritzker said the pause on high school athletics was needed to slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.
In all surrounding states, however, football and other fall and winter sports were played, apparently resulting in no large COVID outbreaks different from what was experienced in Illinois during the same period.
This spring, as COVID case rates eased and vaccinations mounted, Pritzker relented, and allowed many fall high school sports, including football, to be played in the spring.
However, the parents have argued in their lawsuit that their teens and families paid a steep price for Pritzker’s actions in 2020.
One of the parents, identified as Lisa Moore, of Grundy County, asserts in the lawsuit that her son, a track and field athlete, who was class president, a drum major, and captain of the cross country team, among other activities at Seneca High School in LaSalle County, committed suicide in October, after Pritzker shut down high school sports for the fall season.
The lawsuit blamed Pritzker and his restrictions for mental and emotional distress that allegedly led to the suicide.
Other parents claimed in the lawsuit that their children had fallen into depression, developed anger issues, and refused to leave their houses, as a result of the effects they suffered following the governor’s shutdown orders.
They also claim the shutdown orders have cost students the opportunity to secure college athletic scholarships.
The lawsuit alleges Pritzker violated the high school athletes’ equal protection rights by shutting down high school sports over COVID, while allowing college and professional sports to be played, albeit before empty stadiums.
The parents are represented in the action by attorney Laura Grochocki, of Chicago.
The lawsuit seeks a court order barring Pritzker from implementing such restrictions on high school sports.
Rather than reply to the claims in the parents’ lawsuit, Pritzker has sought to transfer the case to the courtroom of Judge Grischow.
Grischow had been selected by the Illinois Supreme Court to handle nearly all other lawsuits challenging Pritzker’s COVID orders and the emergency powers Pritzker has used to govern the state by executive order since March 2020.
The state Supreme Court granted Pritzker’s request, and sent the case to Grischow.
Pritzker and the Attorney General then sought to dismiss the lawsuit, asserting the athletes and their parents had no case.
Grischow, however, appeared to disagree with that assertion, refusing the governor’s motion to dismiss.
It marked the second time in recent weeks that Grischow has refused to dismiss a legal action challenging Pritzker’s use of authority.
In April, Grischow denied Pritzker’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the owner of the FoxFire restaurant in suburban Geneva, who had asked the court to force Pritzker to scientifically and legally justify his decision to shut down indoor dining at restaurants and taverns, again in the name of fighting COVID-19.
That case also remains pending.
Pritzker has until June 7 to filed his reply brief responding to an earlier filing from the athletes and their parents, in which they urged Grischow to reject Pritzker’s motion to dismiss.