An Evangelical Christian church in Lena, Illinois is suing Governor “JB” Pritzker for discriminating against churches and people of faith with his latest stay-at-home executive orders, issuing and enforcing unconstitutional edicts during the coronavirus pandemic. Today, Thomas More Society attorneys filed a federal complaint and motion for temporary restraining order on behalf of The Beloved Church and Pastor Steve Cassell with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Rockford.

Cassell and his church have been forced to shut down due to Pritzker’s Executive Orders. They were issued “cease and desist” orders and have been threatened with arrest and prosecution by local officials in Stephenson County, who are also named in the suit.

“The spiritual well-being of the people of Illinois is just as important as their temporal well-being during these dark times,” stated Thomas More Society Vice President and Senior Counsel Peter Breen.

“Keeping liquor stores open but indefinitely shutting down churches and religious ministries violates our constitution and our most basic liberties. If liquor stores are ‘essential,’ so are churches," Breen said.

It is noted in the filing that so-called “Essential Businesses and Operations” may have gatherings of larger than 10 people, while religious gatherings of any number are forbidden, on pain of criminal prosecution. The lawsuit reports that in his stay-at-home orders, Pritzker “declared churches and church ministries ‘non-essential’ and commanded them to shut down.” It also notes that “Pritzker forbade congregants from leaving their homes to attend church or church ministries. On the eve of Easter, the holiest day on the Christian calendar, Pritzker expressly prohibited even no-contact, drive-in services in Illinois church parking lots.”

Additionally, the complaint describes how “Pritzker has declared a laundry list of businesses to be ‘essential,’ from liquor stores to lawyers to landscapers,” while at the same time the governor is refusing to allow church members to gather for worship.

Breen explained how the governor’s statements and actions during the coronavirus epidemic demonstrate what the lawsuit labels “an illegal and discriminatory hostility to religious practice, churches, and people of faith.”

“There’s no doubt that Governor Pritzker has flagrantly violated the fundamental religious liberties of Illinoisans,” remarked Breen. “His orders, and Stephenson County’s enforcement of them against The Beloved Church in Lena, are in violation of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise clause, parallel provisions of the Illinois Constitution, and the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”

According to the suit, the governor also lacks authority under the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act to impose a quarantine or isolation on Illinois residents, or to order shutdowns of Illinois churches. The Illinois Department of Public Health alone has “supreme authority in matters of quarantine and isolation” or closures “to prevent the probable spread of a dangerously contagious or infectious disease” – not Governor Pritzker.

“When Governor Pritzker stated his intent to extend his stay-at-home order until May 30, which he does not legally possess the authority to do, he added dog grooming, golfing, and fishing to his prejudicial list of ‘essentials’,” Breen observed. “So congregants from religious groups will be able to travel to take their pets for grooming, yet they will still be forbidden to travel for religious purposes and their churches will continue to be shut down as ‘non-essential’ until at least the end of May.”

Read the Thomas More Society’s Verified Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, and Money Damages on behalf of The Beloved Church and Pastor Stephen Cassell, filed April 30, 2020, with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Western Division in The Beloved Church, et al v. Jay Robert Pritzker, et al, here and the Plaintiff’s Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction here.