DeVore Files Suit Against 100+ School Districts in the State for Enforcing State Mask Mandate

By Benjamin Cox on October 20, 2021 at 3:17pm

Jacksonville School District 117 along with most all other school districts in the area have been named as defendants in a lawsuit over the state’s school mask mandate.

Capitol Fax reports Attorney Thomas DeVore, on behalf of several parents, filed a lawsuit in Macoupin County today questioning the mask mandate and a school’s ability to exclude a student from school and deny in-person learning without a lawful order of quarantine from the local health department having jurisdiction. The lawsuit allege sthe rules are illegally enforcing the exclusion directives issued by Governor J.B. Pritzker, the Illinois Department of Public Health, and the Illinois State Board of Education.

The lawsuit also alleges they are infringing upon students’ rights to learn. The lawsuit is asking that the local public health department must issue a lawful order of quarantine requiring students to wear a mask and have a due process right to refuse a modified quarantine, which is alleged to limit the spread of the virus. It’s also asking the court to declare the executive order by Governor Pritzker to be invalid and create an injunction from compelling students to wear masks at the districts named in the lawsuit.

You can view the whole filing here. A hearing on a Temporary Restraining Order has been set for November 5th in front of 7th Circuit Judge April Troemper.

This is a developing story.