Dupage Policy Journal

As one of the plaintiffs successful in overturning Gov. J.B. Pritzker's school mask mandate, Republican Congressional candidate Malgorzata McGonigal hasn't been shy in expressing how she feels about an appellate court ruling rendering the practice unconstitutional. 

“We won against the tyrannical overreach of Governor Pritzker,” McGonigal posted on Facebook.

Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) effectively ending enforcement of the governor’s executive orders mandating masks in schools, weekly testing of unvaccinated school employees and quarantining of students and teachers known to have been in close proximity to confirmed or probable COVID-19 victims.

Grischow’s ruling further stipulates state law designates the Illinois Department of Public Health as the “supreme authority” in matters of quarantine and isolation, not the governor. In addition, she asserted IDPH must adhere to state law in making sure due process standards are upheld. While the governor recently announced he plans to lift the general statewide indoor mask mandate by month’s end, he has been noncommittal about the one impacting schools.  

While the governor has vowed to appeal the verdict, since the ruling went into effect more than 550 school districts across the state have made the decision to go “fully masks optional.”

Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) has taken notice of the governor’s outrage, pointing a finger at him for trying to subvert the state’s courts in order to maintain his self-imposed policy standards by issuing a new mask mandate through the Illinois Department of Public Health.

"In his quest for power at all costs, the Governor attempted to go above the judicial system to continue to require masks in schools, a move that even his Democrat allies in the legislature wouldn’t support. Even they agree he has gone too far," McConchie said in a statement. "Today, the Governor was willing to add to the confusion and chaos that has overwhelmed our schools and parents in the last several days.”

Quarantining youth has been linked to a significant increase in depression, with Pew Charitable Trust website finding the number of emergency room visits among students for suspected suicide attempts having jumped by 31% and the Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association having proclaimed children’s mental health a “national emergency” since the start of COVID.

As part of her 30-page ruling, Grischow asserted far too often the governor’s unilateral way of doing things left those impacted without the benefit of due process.

“The arbitrary method as to contact tracing and masking in general continue to raise fair questions as to the legality of the Executive Orders in light of violations of healthy children’s substantive due process rights,” she wrote. “Statutory rights have attempted to be bypassed through the issuance of Executive Orders and Emergency Rules … This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain.”

In separate cases, Grischow has also moved to deny motions for there to be class status, meaning the TRO would only impact the plaintiffs and the school districts that are part of the suit. In addition, the judge has ordered Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to appear before the court to answer a contempt of court complaint on the district’s behalf.

"It is ordered that Mr. Pedro Martinez, as agent for the City of Chicago School District #299, and the Board of Education of City of Chicago School District #299, shall personally appear before this court and show cause as to why the defendants should not be held in contempt for failure to abide by and comply with this Court's prior order of February 04, 2022," Grischow’s Feb. 14 order reads.

CPS was one of 145 defendant school districts sued by parents across the state seeking to end masking. Attorney Tom DeVore has previously threatened to sue CPS for not obeying a restraining order preventing the district from treating students who unmask differently from those who continue to mask.

On the day after Grischow’s ruling, the DuPage Policy Journal has reported Hinsdale Central High school officials were captured on video guiding students who refuse to wear masks into an isolated area of the school. DeVore has vowed to start pursuing criminal complaints for contempt of court against school officials who abuse the rights of plaintiffs that are part of the suit.

“If I can confirm that the Hinsdale School District or any school district is isolating children that are plaintiffs in this case, and I know that to be true, I'm going to ask the judge, 'Put somebody in the county jail' as soon as I have the first available opportunity,” he told DuPage Policy Journal. “That's what I'm going to try to do because they cannot do that.

McGonigal has been clear in expressing one of the biggest reasons she decided to challenge U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Lakeview) in the Fifth Congressional District is to make sure the constitutional rights of the average Illinois citizen are protected.

"Why me, not him, because for the past two years I've been fighting for our kids, for our people, for our rights,” McGonigal told the DuPage Policy Journal. “I've been out there. I've been talking to people. I've been talking to parents, students. He hasn't been doing that."

Boasting a strong back-to-school message, McGonigal ran for Barrington 220 Board of Education school board in 2021 and has been a constant voice in the mask-optional movement. The North Barrington mother of three recently took to Facebook to congratulate schools on going mask-optional.

"We as adults should protect our children. It shouldn't be our children protecting grown-ups," she said of the state’s school mask mandate.