Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on Tuesday signed a bill requiring lawsuits challenging state laws and executive orders to be filed in two dark blue counties.
After the Democratic-led state legislature passed the bill last month, residents who want to correct their grievances with the state must file a plight in either Cook County or Sangamon County, according to the Times. chicago tribune. Democrats argued that the law would prevent plaintiffs from choosing which county to sue based on the likelihood of a favorable verdict. Democratic Senator Don Harmon said individuals will still be allowed to sue states in local courts unless they intend to overturn state law, according to the Times. WTVO.
The state recently abolished cash bail and also passed laws banning certain semi-automatic guns and magazines.
CHICAGO, Illinois – April 12: Mayor Lori Lightfoot (left) meets Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson (center) and Illinois Governor JB at an event officially announcing Chicago as the host city of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. · Meeting with business and political leaders, including Pritzker, April 12, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images) The move to limit litigation against state laws and executive orders comes three years after the pandemic began, during which time Illinoisans filed several lawsuits and President Pritzker’s It won lawsuits in several counties that challenged the executive order. (Related: Illinois Supreme Court seeks moratorium hours before controversial cash bail law takes effect)
Senate Republican Majority Leader John Curran said Tuesday that the action was “an attempt by the governor and attorney general to bring to court a constitutional challenge that clearly favors the administration,” according to the Chicago Tribune. ‘ said. “In doing so, they discredit judges in rural and lower Illinois and create geographic barriers to public access to our court system,” Curran added.
Republican Rep. Dan Caulkins, who sued states in January over gun control, lamented the bill, according to the Tribune.
“They pass unconstitutional laws that criminalize law-abiding citizens and then move those same citizens hundreds of miles to the kangaroo courts they control. The tyrant is always the same, whether he is a politician,” he said, according to the media.
