A Kankakee Circuit Court judge has struck down the “cashless bail” provisions of the controversial SAFE-T Act that is supposed to go into effect on January 1.
In his ruling, judge Thomas Cunnington, chief judge of the 21st Judicial Circuit, declared that stripping judges of their authority to set bond requirements for suspects awaiting trial is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers between the judicial and legislative branches.
Cunnington based this assertion on the premise that courts have the “authority inherent power” to “administer and control their courtrooms and to set bail,” without interference from the legislative body. The SAFE-T Act, as passed and signed by Governor JB Pritzker, would usurp that inherent power.
“(The SAFE-T Act) amended the State Constitution and eroded the constitutional protections of the Victim Rights Act, all while disenfranchising the people of their Constitutional right to vote on such reforms,” Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe said in a statement. “The people of Illinois deserve better than that, and today’s verdict condemns the Act for exactly what it is: unconstitutional.”
Pritzker and Attorney General both promised a swift appeal to the Democrat-controlled Illinois Supreme Court.
“We cannot and should not defend a system that fails to keep people safe by allowing those who are a threat to their community the ability to simply buy their way out of jail,” Pritzker said in a statement. “I thank the Attorney General for his work on this case and look forward to the Illinois Supreme Court taking up the appeal as soon as possible.”
