Will County Gazette

State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) was pleased with a bipartisan legislative committee's decision to block Gov. J.B. Pritzker's (D) emergency rule that would have kept children masked in school.

Rezin shared her thoughts following the decision by the Joint Committee of Administrative Rules (JCAR) in a Feb. 15 Facebook post where she also criticized Pritzker for trying to take matters into his own hands.

"Today, the Joint Committee of Administrative Rules made it clear that we would not accept the Governor's attempts to go above a court ruling made by a co-equal branch of government," Rezin said in the statement.

According to Illinois Policy, JCAR voted 9-0-2 against extending Pritzker's emergency orders. Pritzker, through the Illinois Department of Public Health, had attempted to counteract a temporary restraining order issued by a judge earlier this month that halted the statewide mask mandate in schools.

"Instead of allowing our judicial system to work through its process, the Governor tried to double down on his unilateral approach to COVID-19 mitigations by reissuing the same exact rules that a Sangamon County judge nullified earlier this month," Rezin said in the statement. "This move was both bad government and dangerous to the rule of law as it ignored the court's ruling on due process. In his quest for power and control, Pritzker and his Administration was willing to further the chaos and confusion for schools throughout the state."

Because of JCAR's vote, Pritzker and the IDPH cannot reissue a statewide mask mandate for schools, Illinois Policy reported.

"With this bipartisan vote, I hope the Governor finally recognizes that his go-at-it-alone tactic is not in the best interest of our state or its people," Rezin said.

According to NBC Chicago, attorney Thomas DeVore, who represented more than 700 parents who sued the state over the statewide school mask mandate, claimed the mandate didn't follow due process.

Pritzker had announced last week that he would lift the statewide indoor mask mandate by the end of the month, but not for schools.