UPDATED 7:45 A.M. 12/31
TOULON, Ill. – Add several area counties to the list of counties that say they won’t enforce the “cashless bail” rules contained in the state’s SAFE-T Act as of Sunday, now that a judge says they’re unconstitutional.
Stark County State’s Attorney Caroline Borden Campion says in a news release, essentially, what Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos did: it’s been declared unconstitutional, so it’s invalid and can’t be applied.
That’s the exact same thing Marshall County State’s Attorney Patrick Murphy and Putnam County State’s Attorney Christina Mennie are saying as well.
There are a number of counties that still plan on implementing the rule, siding with an argument by Attorney General Kwame Raoul that the ruling only applies to the 64 counties that filed to have the rule stopped.
An appeal of the ruling is still in the works.
“Due to the recent ruling that the Pretrial Fairness Act is unconstitutional, our office will not be instituting this new law on January 1. As the Illinois Supreme Court has previously ruled in other cases, once a statute is deemed unconstitutional, those provisions become invalid and cannot be applied to any person or entity. Consequently, our office will act in accordance with the law and will not implement the Pretrial Fairness Act, per the court’s decision. My office will continue to closely monitor further developments.” — Caroline Borden Campion, Stark County State’s Attorney, news release.
“The Marshall County States Attorney Office will not be instituting the Pretrial Fairness Act on January 1 pursuant to the recent finding regarding the constitutionality of the Act. As the Illinois Supreme Court has previously ruled in other cases, once a statute is deemed unconstitutional, those provisions become invalid and cannot be applied to any person or entity. The Marshall County States Attorney Office will continue to monitor the situation and any rulings from the Illinois Supreme Court.” — Patrick Murphy, Marshall County State’s Attorney, news release.
_______________________________________________________________________________
“When a statute is unconstitutional, the statute becomes invalid and has no force or effect on anyone. As a result, and until the Illinois Supreme Court provides further clarification, we will abide by this ruling and not implement the new bail reform. This office remains committed to following the law and is hopeful the Supreme Court will bring finality to this topic in the near future,” Hoos said.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul issued an updated statement on the “cash bail” situation Friday evening:
“Beginning this morning, the Attorney General’s office received new complaints and motions for temporary restraining orders (TROs) from state’s attorneys and sheriffs throughout Illinois who are seeking to prevent the SAFE-T Act from going into effect. To be clear, these motions were filed on the last business day before Jan. 1, when the SAFE-T Act will go into effect.
“In some of these TRO motions, plaintiffs are asking that the Attorney General’s office be enjoined from enforcing any provision of the SAFE-T Act, not just the pretrial release provisions. Many of these provisions have been in effect for more than a year; however, my office received less than one hour’s notice of hearings in some counties and no notice at all in others. Throughout the day, we continued to learn of plaintiffs having obtained TROs without giving our office notice or providing copies of the complaints or TRO motions. To say that this is an abuse of the judicial process is an understatement. The SAFE-T Act has been the law in Illinois since January 2021, giving these plaintiffs nearly two years to raise challenges. In fact, the plaintiffs have had since October to join the lawsuits consolidated in Kankakee County. It is outrageous that the plaintiffs instead chose to sit on their hands until the last business day before the SAFE-T Act is to go into effect, and then seek to enjoin it from going into effect.
“It goes without saying that there is an appropriate way to challenge a new law. In fact, as their colleagues were engaging in 11th hour theatrics, the state’s attorneys of DuPage and Kane counties filed an emergency motion with the Illinois Supreme Court in which they ask the court to provide some clarity regarding the SAFE-T Act, so that there will be consistent pretrial proceedings throughout Illinois beginning Jan. 1. And because my office has already appealed Judge Cunnington’s order, the appropriate process for seeking a ruling that will apply to all 102 counties is now underway.”
