As reported earlier this month, attorneys for the Murray Parents Association had filed a notice to appeal a federal judge’s ruling in the case against the State of Illinois and its efforts to shutter the Warren G. Murray Developmental Center in Centralia.  The appeal has now been officially filed in the 7^th U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago against Federal Judge Marvin Aspen’s ruling that denied a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the Department of Human Services from moving Murray residents from the Centralia facility.  Aspen ruled that the plaintiffs in the case did not adequately show irreparable harm to residents would result from a closure of the center.  But the appeal says the loss of Murray, and a lack of clear choice regarding alternative options for care, qualifies as irreparable harm.  The appeal also claims that attempts by the state to transfer Murray residents into four-bedroom community integrated living facilities qualifies as intra-class discrimination against the developmentally disabled because of the different levels of developmentally disabled residents housed at Murray.  The intra-class discrimination claim is based on a very recent court case against the Wisconsin Department of Health Services in the 7^th District Court.  The appeal also cites Affordable Care Act language interpreted earlier this year by another federal court.  Aspen noted the day he issued his ruling that he fully expected an appeal of his decision, which ultimately came on the last day an appeal could have been filed.  As the case continues, DHS has confirmed that any closure of the facility is a long-way off, with no specific date having yet been set.