Illinois Supreme Court Places Controversial Cashless Bail Law on Hold

Chicago police work at the scene of a shooting near East Chicago Avenue and North State Street in the Near North Side neighborhood in a file photo. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

The Illinois Supreme Court placed on hold a portion of a controversial law known as the SAFE-T Act that would eliminate cash bail for some crimes.

In a ruling on Dec. 31—just hours before the law was supposed to be enacted—the Supreme Court placed the cashless bail provision under the SAFE-T Act on hold for the entire state. A ruling from a lower court last week placed that part of the law on hold for dozens of counties, but not all of them.

The law was slated to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, eliminating cash bail for some crimes. The state Supreme Court ruled that the cash bail measure would take power out of state judges’ hands.

“The emergency motion for supervisory order is allowed,” the Illinois high court wrote. “In order to maintain consistent pretrial procedures throughout Illinois, the effective date of the Pretrial Fairness Act is stayed during the pendency of the appeal ... and until further order of this Court.”

Late last month, a Kankakee County judge ruled that cashless bail violated the state’s Constitution and wouldn’t be applied in counties that filed a lawsuit to block the measure. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, a Democrat, criticized the ruling and said he would appeal it.

“Had the SAFE-T Act gone into effect on January 1, 2023, while litigation is pending, the administration of justice in Illinois would have been uneven, thus harming the citizens of the state,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin and Kane County State’s Attorney Jaime Mosser said in a joint statement.

The two officials had joined the lawsuit to block the cashless bail provision, and they filed an emergency motion on Dec. 30 to suspend the law pending its resolution.

“We are very pleased with the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision,” the statement reads. “The equal administration of justice is paramount to the successful and fair administration of our criminal justice system. Today’s decision will ensure that those accused of a crime in Illinois will receive equal and fair treatment throughout the State.”

In a Dec. 31,2022, statement, Raoul wrote that it’s “only the Supreme Court” that can decide whether “the merits will be binding on all Illinois courts.”

“It is important to note that the order issued today by the court is not a decision on the merits of the constitutionality of the SAFE-T Act, and I appreciate the court’s interest in expediting the appeal. We look forward to mounting a robust defense of the constitutionality of the law and ensuring that it goes into effect across the state,” Raoul said after the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (L), announces a shelter-in-place order to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus, as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, right, listens, during a press conference in Chicago on March 20, 2020. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo)

Response

Proponents of the law, including state Sen. Elgie R. Sims, Jr., a Democrat, said the measure would “fundamentally change” the state’s criminal justice system and claimed that Republican critics of the measure were telling “lies” about the bill when it was being considered in the state legislature.

“This bill reforms our criminal justice system. It allows for the decertification of bad police officers,” Sims said last year. “It’s not about putting people back on the streets. There is nothing in our SAFE-T Act that will put people (who committed crimes) back on the streets. The elimination of cash bail is not about putting people back on the streets.”

But state Sen. John Curran, a Republican, said the act would elevate the risk of releasing dangerous criminals back onto the streets, alleging that Republican legislators were “frozen out of the process” and couldn’t participate in making revisions to the bill when it was considered.

“We represent 35 percent approximately of the state and never once in two years have we been allowed an opportunity to participate,” Curran said, according to local media.

Local law enforcement officials have also issued warnings about the cashless bail provision. Last year, Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau told Fox News that “when I said that this is the most dangerous law I’ve ever seen, I believe that.”

“We’ve spent a lot of time trying to prepare for what’s coming,” Franklin County Sheriff Kyle Bacon told the outlet over the weekend. “Trying to sift through a thousand pages to determine where our role is and what’s going to change and how we can best serve the citizens that we protect has been first and foremost for us.”