A federal appeals court has turned down the Illinois Republican Party’s bid to block a coronavirus-related lockdown order in that state that limits political gatherings — and most other in-person events — to no more than 50 people.
A three-judge panel that included two Trump appointees unanimously rejected the state GOP’s request for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the order issued by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Lawyers for the Republican Party argued that Pritzker’s decision in June to exempt churches and other religious organizations from the cap undermined the governor’s ability to leave that limit in place against political assemblies, which also enjoy special protection under the Constitution.
But the opinion, released Thursday by the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, held that the exemption for religion Pritzker issued under some legal and political pressure from religious groups about two months ago did not foreclose the state’s ability to regulate political events as part of efforts to stem spread of the virus.
Supreme Court precedent “does not compel the Governor to treat all gatherings alike, whether they be of Catholics, Lutherans, Orthodox Jews, Republicans, Democrats, University of Illinois alumni, Chicago Bears fans, or others,” wrote Judge Diane Wood, an appointee of President Bill Clinton. “Free exercise of religion enjoys express constitutional protection, and the Governor was entitled to carve out some room for religion, even while he declined to do so for other activities.”
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Originally Posted by Anti Globalist
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