Chicago City Wire

Matthew Podgorski said the Northwest Side GOP wants to make it clear: It is among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker because it believes he is abusing his authority.

On June 15, Illinois Republican Party v. Pritzker was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The Northwest Side GOP, the Schaumburg Township Republican Organization and the Will County Republican Central Committee were listed as plaintiffs along with the state GOP.

Podgorksi, chairman of the GOP Club, said the issue needs to be settled in court.

“The Northwest Side GOP Club, unlike many other political organizations, movements, or causes, is choosing to follow Gov. Pritzker‘s executive orders,” he told Chicago City Wire. “Even though we feel like those orders are unfair and unconstitutional, we choose to work within the legal system. That is why we are suing him rather than simply ignoring his executive order, like many others have.”

The plaintiffs are represented by the Liberty Justice Center, the Chicago-based public interest law firm. The LJC won a landmark First Amendment case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018.

“Thank God for organizations like the Liberty Justice Center who are willing to represent people and groups who want to follow the law, but are subjected to an unequal protection under the law,” Podgorski said.

“The governor’s actions are both hypocritical and illegal. The First Amendment applies equally to everyone in Illinois — not only people whose political views are supported by Gov. Pritzker,” Patrick Hughes, president and co-founder of the Liberty Justice Center, said in a statement. “The governor claims to believe that the freedom of assembly is such a critical right that he not only allowed last week’s rallies, he even walked in one in violation of his own executive order. The governor must be stopped from depriving the Republican Party and its local groups of the same right.”

While Pritzker grants carve-outs to organizations he likes, other groups are limited to gatherings of 10 people. For fear of criminal penalty, the Illinois Republican Party held a statewide convention virtually on June 12-13 via videoconference.

“Last week the governor’s double standard was on full display as he defended, joined and endorsed large gatherings that violate his very own executive orders,” Tim Schneider, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party said in a statement released by the LJC. “It’s clear the governor keeps one set of rules for the people in politically advantageous photo ops and another for the rest of Illinois.”

Schneider said the governor doesn’t seem to understand his role.

“Gov. Pritzker is ruling Illinois like an unaccountable king where only he gets to decide which violations of his executive order have his blessing,” Schneider said in a statement. “The Illinois Republican Party will not sit idly by while the governor of Illinois applies one rule for himself and his political allies and another rule for everyone else. We agree that peaceful protesters have just cause to exercise their First Amendment rights, but they aren’t the only ones.”