FoxFire attorney says charge against Pritzker’s COVID-19 orders not moot

[April 24, 2021]  By Greg Bishop

(The Center Square) – While the governor is arguing in legal filings the challenge a restaurant has against his COVID-19 orders is moot because there’s no current indoor dining ban, an attorney says the issue goes deeper than that.

A status hearing in Sangamon County Court Wednesday will take up the latest filings in the case Geneva-based restaurant FoxFire has against Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Pritzker wants the judge to reconsider her ruling allowing the case to proceed. If not, he’s seeking an immediate appeal.

FoxFire attorney Greg Earl with Myers Earl and Nelson said they will argue the case all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court.

“Right now Gov. Pritzker has a blank check on power, he’s just doing what he wants and nobody has stopped him,” Earl said.

But, the governor also said FoxFire’s charge that his orders were arbitrary is moot because there’s no indoor dining ban.

“All executive orders forbidding indoor dining at bars and restaurants in Kane County have expired, and ceased to have any effect. Furthermore, no exception to the doctrine of mootness applies. As such, FoxFire’s claim for relief in Count V is moot,” concludes a 24-page response to FoxFire filed by Attorney General Kwame Raoul on behalf of the governor.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks at a news conference in Chicago on Monday, Nov. 9, 2020.

By Brett Rowland | The Center Square

“This is definitely not moot,” Earl said. “I don’t think there are restaurants out there that are at full capacity right now so if he wants to tell everyone that they can open up and everything’s fine, there’s an argument there, but I think this has larger implications moving forward than just COVID implications.”

The governor still has orders in place prohibiting capacity over 50 percent for restaurants. That doesn’t change until 50 percent of the state’s population is fully vaccinated, something that doesn’t have a date certain.

“What’s to stop him from issuing another order next week that says the exact same thing or furthermore a Republican or another governor or independent governor, whoever is sitting in that office doing this in the future,” Earl said. “So I think there’s too much at stake here than just a simple indoor dining ban.”