Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot was shocked when an Illinois judge officially blocked the city from implementing its vaccine mandate on police officers.

What Happened: Cook county judge Raymond Mitchell sided with Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police(FOP) and issued a restraining order on the city’s vaccine mandate. Judge Mitchell told the Chicago Police Department’s labor unions and city leaders to continue to negotiate an agreement on COVID requirements and restrictions.

There are “two competing public interests, but one interest need not be scuttled in favor of another,” Judge Raymond Mitchell wrote in his ruling, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Context: Chicago FOP has been fighting against Lightfoot’s vaccine mandate and motioned for a restraining order last week. FOP President John Catanzara Jr. says the union is fighting to negotiate the vaccine mandate and celebrated the partial win.

“Thankfully, Judge Mitchell heard our argument that we’ve been saying all along. This fight was about collective bargaining rights and the obligation for the city to go to the bargaining table and to arbitration,” said Catanzara Jr. according to ABC 7.

What Mayor Lightfoot Says: Democrat Lori Lightfoot was frustrated by the judge’s decision and accused the FOP of allowing people to die by opposing the mandate and telling “half-truths.”


“What they’re serious about is obstructing, obfuscating and telling half-truths. … I do not want people to die in my city when there is a life-saving, free, safe vaccine readily available,” the Democrat said, according to The Daily Wire.

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