Militia decal seen on Ill. lawmaker’s truck

CHICAGO – Democratic county leaders in Illinois want an investigation of Republican state Rep. Chris Miller after he displayed a decal of an anti-government militia movement on his pickup truck parked at the U.S. Capitol during the deadly insurrection in January.

The Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association asked for a state investigation Friday after photos of Miller’s truck with a sticker for the Three Percenters surfaced on social media.

Miller, a cattle farmer first elected in 2018, denied involvement with the group. He was in Washington for former President Donald Trump’s speech on Jan. 6. A day earlier, Miller’s wife, freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, delivered a speech quoting Adolf Hitler that drew wide outrage.

“My son received the sticker that was on my truck from a family friend who said that it represented patriotism,” Miller said in a statement. “I have since removed the sticker.”

Still, Kristina Zahorik, leader of the county chairs, submitted a request to the Office of the Legislative Inspector General to investigate Miller’s actions during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“Miller’s attendance at the rally that turned into a mob and insurrection of our nation’s Capitol is troubling,” Zahorik said.

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department said Saturday that it will appeal a judge’s ruling that found the federal government’s eviction moratorium was unconstitutional.

Prosecutors filed a notice in the case late Saturday, saying the government was appealing the matter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The appeal comes days after U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had overstepped its authority.

“Although the COVID-19 pandemic persists, so does the Constitution,” the judge wrote in the decision Thursday.

In a statement, Brian Boynton, the acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s civil division, said prosecutors respectfully disagreed with the ruling.

“The CDC’s eviction moratorium, which Congress extended last December, protects many renters who cannot make their monthly payments due to job loss or health care expenses,” he said. “By preventing people from becoming homeless or having to move into more-crowded housing, the moratorium helps to slow the spread of COVID-19.”

The CDC eviction moratorium was signed in September by President Donald Trump and extended by President Joe Biden until March 31.