Chicago and Cook County, Illinois, residents faced some of the most stringent and legally questionable COVID restrictions in the country. They were masked for nearly the entire pandemic and Chicago families were forced to fight for schools to simply reopen. Even when the country was reopening rapidly, life was getting harder, not easier, for Illinoisans.
On January 3, 2022, both Chicago and Cook County adopted orders requiring anyone above the age of 5 to show proof of receiving the COVID vaccine to dine indoors, visit gyms, or enjoy entertainment venues. The requirements barred families from dining together, seeing movies, and visiting museums. People lost jobs over their vaccination status.
The Liberty Justice Center filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of 8 residents of Chicago and Cook County to end the City of Chicago and Cook County’s illegal and discriminatory “proof of vaccination” requirements.
“After nearly two years of restriction, isolation and division, it feels like life in the Chicago area is getting worse, not better,” said Courtney Connolly, lead plaintiff in the lawsuit and Chicago resident. “These requirements are not protecting anyone. They’re not about public health. The orders are about ostracizing and shaming people who disagree with the point of view of the government by prohibiting them from participating in life – and these government officials are so ruthless that they have imposed these mandates on residents as young as 5. That’s wrong. It must end and never be permitted again.”
The federal lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Chicago and Cook County residents claimed the orders violated the rights of equal protection, due process and freedom of religion provided by the U.S. Constitution, while also violating state law, the Illinois state constitution and Chicago’s own municipal code.
The lawsuit came at a time when almost the entire country did not have a mask mandate for participating in civic life or in schools, or any “proof of vaccination” requirement for soliciting private businesses. It also came one day after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the impending end of one of the country’s few remaining statewide indoor mask mandates.
On April 20, 2022, attorneys from the Liberty Justice Center filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal of the case. Cook County and Chicago dropped mask and proof of vaccination requirements within weeks of the lawsuit. LJC remains committed to protecting Chicago and Cook County residents from unlawful restrictions in the future.
Jeffrey M. Schwab serves as Senior Counsel and Interim Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center, where he litigates cases to protect the rights to free speech, economic liberty, private property and other Constitutional rights in both federal and state courts across the country.
(Cook County Record)—Noting research indicating COVID vaccines have done little to slow the spread of the omicron variant of the virus, a group of unvaccinated residents of Chicago and Cook County have sued the city and county, asking a federal judge to put an end to the city’s and county’s...