A federal appeals panel says Gov. JB Pritzker is free to limit Republican political gatherings in the name of fighting COVID-19, but also allowed under the law to give more leeway to religious gatherings and Black Lives Matter protests, if he chooses.

On Sept. 3, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the arguments presented by the Illinois Republican Party and other plaintiffs that Pritzker had not improperly discriminated against them and other political organizations by refusing to allow them to gather in groups of more than 50 people while Illinois remains in a state of emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ruling was authored by Seventh Circuit Judge Diane P. Wood.Circuit judges Amy C. Barrett and Amy J. St. Eve concurred.

>https://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/553524774-appeals-court-pritzker-ok-to-limit-or-not-limit-religious-political-gatherings-to-combat-covid-19