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.…
