Illinois Supreme Court to hear arguments on end to cash bail in March

CHICAGO (CBS) — The Illinois Supreme Court docket will hear arguments in March about whether or not a state regulation ending money bail is constitutional, which means courts throughout the state will proceed utilizing money bail for at the very least two extra months.

The state’s highest court docket ordered on Dec. 31 that the tip of money bail in Illinois could be placed on maintain indefinitely because it ready to contemplate an attraction of a Kankakee County decide’s ruling that eliminating money bail violates the state structure.

The tip of money bail in Illinois was a key provision of the so-called SAFE-T Act, a sweeping felony justice reform regulation signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in February 2021.

On Dec. 28, Kankakee County Decide Thomas Cunnington discovered that the pretrial launch parts of the SAFE-T Act violate the separation of powers clause of the Illinois Structure. A bunch of state’s attorneys from greater than 60 counties in Illinois had sued to dam the tip of money bail, and Cunnington’s determination primarily allowed for money bail to proceed in counties that had joined the case, whereas counties that weren’t concerned have been free to finish money bail on Jan. 1, till the Supreme Court docket stepped in to pause the tip of money bail statewide.

Illinois Lawyer Normal Kwame Raoul, who helps the tip of money bail, and was a defendant within the Kankakee County case, has notified the Supreme Court docket of his intent to attraction Cunnington’s ruling.

On Thursday, the state’s highest court docket agreed to an expedited schedule for listening to the attraction, and gave Raoul, Pritzker, and different defendants within the case till Jan. 20 to file their “file of attraction,” which might include all the court docket filings and rulings from the unique case.

The defendants would then have till Jan. 26 to file their first transient of their attraction, the plaintiffs within the lawsuits would have till Feb. 17 to file their briefs, and the defendants would have till Feb. 27 to answer.

The Illinois Supreme Court docket would then hear oral arguments on the attraction throughout their March session, though no particular date has but been set.

Critics of the present bail system say it unfairly punishes the poor, and that they’re assured the state’s highest court docket will rule the tip of money bail is constitutional.

“We look ahead to mounting a sturdy protection of the constitutionality of the regulation … and guaranteeing that it goes into impact throughout the state,” Raoul stated in an announcement final week.

Pritzker had known as Cunnington’s ruling a setback for the rules we fought to guard by way of the passage of the SAFE-T Act.”

“The Normal Meeting and advocates labored to switch an antiquated felony justice system with a system rooted in fairness and equity. We can not and shouldn’t defend a system that fails to maintain folks secure by permitting those that are a menace to their neighborhood the power to easily purchase their means out of jail. I thank the Lawyer Normal for his work on this case and look ahead to the Illinois Supreme Court docket taking on the attraction as quickly as attainable,” Pritzker stated in an announcement on Wednesday.

Kankakee County State’s Lawyer Jim Rowe, one of many state’s attorneys who had challenged the tip to money bail in Illinois, has hailed Cunnington’s ruling.

“At the moment’s ruling affirms that we’re nonetheless a authorities of the folks, and that the Constitutional protections afforded to the residents of Illinois – most significantly the suitable to train our voice with our vote – are inalienable. The Act was a 765 web page invoice handed throughout a lame duck session underneath cowl of darkness at 4:00a.m., affording legislators lower than one hour to learn it and vote on it, and denying most of the people any alternative to supply remark or enter. It amended the State Structure and eroded the constitutional protections of the Sufferer Rights Act, all whereas disenfranchising the folks of their Constitutional proper to vote on such reforms. The folks of Illinois deserve higher than that, and in the present day’s verdict condemns the Act for precisely what it’s: unconstitutional.” Rowe stated in an announcement on Wednesday.

Rowe had argued that the tip of money bail “stripped away” the courts’ potential to make sure the security of victims and victims’ households, in line with the Kankakee County State’s Lawyer’s workplace.

In his ruling, the decide wrote that the regulation’s adjustments to money bail ought to have been put earlier than voters as a proposed constitutional modification.

Simply weeks in the past, Illinois state lawmakers handed a revised SAFE-T Act – after months of criticism and considerations over its elimination of money bond. However the revision was not sufficient to immediate 65 state’s attorneys throughout the state to drop their lawsuits difficult it.

Rowe argued that the act is unconstitutional for a number of causes. He argued first, it is obscure; second, it violates crime victims’ rights; third, as a result of its passage violated legislative guidelines and procedures; and fourth, as a result of it infringes on the court docket’s energy.

However the legal professional for the State of Illinois advised Decide Cunnington the state’s attorneys’ arguments are an overreach. The legal professional for Illinois stated there are a lot of precedents that low cost the plaintiffs’ arguments, and he additionally argued that the regulation would solely be unconstitutional if it unduly infringes upon judicial energy.