The Illinois Supreme Court announced a change to its order on masking in Illinois Courthouses in order to conform to recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The amendment to the Court’s August 27, 2020, order on Illinois Courts Response to COVID-19 Emergency (M.R. 30370) is available on the Court website by clicking here.

“Over the past year, the Court has done its best to follow the most recent advice from the relevant health professionals,” Chief Justice Anne M. Burke said. “The CDC now advises that it is unnecessary for vaccinated people to be masked in most circumstances. We have revised our order to account for this change in CDC guidance.”

The Supreme Court’s order sets the CDC rule as a “baseline” for masking requirements – it should be clear that unvaccinated persons must still be masked. The recommendation of temperature checks has also been removed from the amended order. Additionally, local jurisdictions may choose to be more protective than the CDC guidance.

The Illinois Judicial Conference’s Court Operations During COVID-19 Task Force (Task Force) proposed to the Court the amendment to M.R. 30370. The Task Force was created in June 2020 to serve as a rapid response unit to address ongoing challenges to court operations caused by the pandemic. The Chair of the Task Force is J. Timothy Eaton, Partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP and the Vice Chair is Chief Judge Eugene Doherty of the 17th Circuit.