Politics

Pritzker Signs Law Requiring All Suits To Overturn State Laws Be Filed In Blue Counties After Backlash Over Lockdowns

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law Tuesday mandating that any lawsuit challenging a state law or executive order must be filed in two deep-blue counties.

Residents who want to redress their grievances with the state must take their plights to either Cook or Sangamon county after the Democrat-controlled state legislature passed the bill last month, according to the Chicago Tribune. Democrats argued the law would prevent plaintiffs from picking a county in which to file based on the likelihood of a favorable ruling. Democratic state Sen. Don Harmon said the law would still allow individuals to file cases against the state in local court if they do not intend to overturn the state law, according to WTVO.

The state also recently passed laws abolishing cash bail and banning certain semi-automatic firearms and magazines.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - APRIL 12: Mayor Lori Lightfoot (L) speaks to business and political leaders including Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson (C) and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker during an event to officially announce Chicago as the host city for the 2024 Democratic National Convention on April 12, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago last hosted the convention in 1996. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – APRIL 12: Mayor Lori Lightfoot (L) speaks to business and political leaders including Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson (C) and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker during an event to officially announce Chicago as the host city for the 2024 Democratic National Convention on April 12, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.  (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)The move to restrict lawsuits against state laws and executive orders comes three years after the start of the pandemic, during which Illinoisans brought several lawsuits win multiple counties challenging Pritzker’s executive orders. (RELATED: Illinois Supreme Court Presses Pause On Controversial Cash Bail Law Hours Before Taking Effect)

Senate Republican leader John Curran said Tuesday that the move “is clearly an attempt by the governor and the attorney general to send constitutional challenges to courts that they believe will be more favorable to the Administration,” according to the Chicago Tribune. “In doing so, they are discrediting judges in suburban and downstate Illinois, and creating geographic barriers to citizens accessing our court system,” Curran added, per the outlet.

Republican State Rep. Dan Caulkins, who sued the state in January over its gun bans, lamented the law, according to the Tribune.

“They pass unconstitutional laws to make law-abiding citizens criminals, and then they make those same citizens travel hundreds of miles to a kangaroo court that they control. Tyrants are always the same, whether kings or lawless Chicago politicians,” he said, per the outlet.