UPDATE: Just hours before cash bail was set to be eliminated across parts of Illinois, the state's Supreme Court stopped it from taking effect. Read more here.
A judge ruled Thursday that the pre-trial release provisions in the SAFE-T Act are unconstitutional, but what will that mean for the state?
Circuit Judge Thomas Cunnington in Kankakee County ruled that bail reform and pre-trial release provisions in the Pre-Trial Fairness Act are unconstitutional.
The elimination of cash bail was set to take effect Jan. 1, but the full ramifications of the ruling remain uncertain.
Here's what we know so far for counties across the state:
What Did the Judge Rule and Why?
Cunnington's ruling held that the SAFE-T Act violated the Separation of Powers Clause, the Victim Rights Act, and unconstitutionally amended Article I, Section 9 of Illinois' constitution, which codified cash bail in the state.
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But the judge denied the injunction that 64 state's attorneys and sheriffs sought in filing the case.
Cunnington was swayed by the plaintiffs' argument that the state constitution provides for bail in stating, “All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties,” while Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul's staff contended that the statement merely assures defendants that there's a way out pending trial.
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What Does the Ruling mean?
Outside of the elimination of cash bail, other portions of the SAFE-T Act, including new requirements for body cameras and other police reforms, were allowed to stand under the terms of the court order.
According to a press release sent by Kankakee County State's Attorney Jim Rowe, one of the lead plaintiffs in the class-action suit, the bail portion of the law will not go into effect on Jan. 1 in the 65 counties that signed onto the complaint filed against the administration of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Raoul, however, said "it is important to note that it is not binding in any other case, including those involving criminal defendants in any of the state’s 102 counties."
Without an injunction, nothing stops the law from taking effect, Raoul said. And one circuit court's ruling does not bind other jurisdictions.
Will Cash Bail Be Eliminated?
In at least 65 Illinois counties, cash bail will remain in place on Jan. 1 unlike the rest of the state.
While several Chicago-area counties were included in the suit, many were not. Among the most notable was Cook County, the largest county in Illinois.
Here's the full list of 65 counties included in the suit:
- Adams County
- Bond County
- Boone County
- Brown County
- Carroll County
- Cass County
- Christian County
- Clay County
- Clinton County
- Coles County
- Cumberland County
- DeKalb County
- DeWitt County
- Douglas County
- Effingham County
- Fayette County
- Ford County
- Franklin County
- Fulton County
- Greene County
- Grundy County
- Hancock County
- Henderson County
- Jackson County
- Jasper County
- Jefferson County
- Jersey County
- Jo Daviess County
- Johnson County
- Kankakee County
- Kendall County
- Knox County
- LaSalle County
- Lee County
- Livingston County
- Logan County
- Macon County
- Mason County
- Madison County
- Massac County
- McDonough County
- McHenry County
- McLean County
- Mercer County
- Monroe County
- Montgomery County
- Moultrie County
- Ogle County
- Perry County
- Pope County
- Pulaski County
- Randolph County
- Saline County
- Sangamon County
- Scott County
- Shelby County
- Stephenson County
- Tazewell County
- Union County
- Vermilion County
- Washington County
- White County
- Will County
- Winnebago County
- Woodford County
What's Next?
Raoul said the state will appeal the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court, though it remains unclear how quickly the court could take up the matter.
"To definitively resolve this challenge to the pretrial release portions of the SAFE-T Act, Governor Pritzker, the legislative leaders named in the consolidated cases and I intend to appeal the circuit court’s decision directly to the Illinois Supreme Court, where we will ask the court to reverse the circuit court’s decision," he said in a statement.
