SE Illinois News

Gallatin County Board Member Warren Rollman said while the no-cash-bail provision of the SAFE-T Act was deemed unconstitutional, Gallatin County will enact the bill should it survive a post-Jan. 1 court challenge as its state’s attorney did not join a successful injunction to stop its implementation. 

More than half of the 102 Illinois counties' state's attorneys opposed the measure. 

Rollman posted a map on Facebook of counties that did and did not file suit to stop enforcement of the SAFE-T Act.

“The 65 counties in yellow are part of the SAFE-T Act (no cash bail) lawsuit against Governor JB Pritzker,” Rollman said on Facebook. “The judge in the case ruled the no cash bail part unconstitutional, so for the 65 counties who filed suit, they will still have cash bail on January 1.” 

“Gallatin Co, as well as the 36 other counties in purple, did not join the lawsuit against Gov Pritzker. Therefore, the SAFE-T Act and the no cash bail provision WILL go into effect for us starting January 1.”

The Illinois State Supreme ruled on Dec. 31 - the day before the sweeping criminal justice reform was set to take effect - the law’s implementation should be delayed given rulings in lowers courts, according to CBS Chicago.

The no-cash bail provision had been ruled unconstitutional earlier in the week by Kankakee County Chief Judge Thomas W. Cunnington, of the 21st Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois. “The administration of the justice system is an inherent power of the courts upon which the legislature may not infringe and the setting of bail falls within that administrative power, the appropriateness of bail rests with the authority of the court and may not be determined by legislative fiat,” Cunnington wrote in his decision.

A group of 65 state’s attorneys banded together to challenge the law in Cunnington’s court. Several others followed suit with mirroring legislation after Cunnington’s ruling. 

“This is a victory for the rule of law, which unfortunately the Illinois General Assembly and the Governor disregarded when passing this ‘solution in search of a problem’ legislation,” McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said, McHenry Times reported. “It is the legislative process, not the criminal justice system, that is broken in Illinois.” 

Kenneally also argued that “Instead of drafting bail reform in collaboration with actual experts, such as judges, prosecutors, police, and defense attorneys who seek justice in courtrooms every day, the General Assembly and the Governor chose to enact the sophomoric ideas of well-financed activists.”