Chicago City Wire

The Chicago Republican Party is cheering an Illinois Supreme Court noting the cashless bail portion of the Safe-T Act will not be implemented until the court can hold hearings.

The Safe-T Act poses an overhaul of the state’s criminal justice system, particularly when it comes to how alleged criminals are treated. The only aspect that has not been implemented is the cashless bail aspect of the bill. Many have argued relaxing bail would put witnesses in danger and create a revolving door for criminals.

“The General Assembly completely overreached its power in seeking to rewrite the Constitution of Illinois without the approval of the people by vote,” Chicago Republican Chair Steve Boulton said in a press release.

“The Act is a classic case of woke ideology being used as an excuse to override the basic structures of our government.”

“The Act gives a judge facing a flight risk defendant just two options, release before trial or a cell in the Cook County Jail, with no in between,” Boulton noted, “Setting bail allows the judge to balance the risk of flight or aggression against the victim by increasing the amount of bail.”

“Passing the Act was trendy political posturing on ‘equity’ gone way wrong, with no one thinking it through.”

The Illinois Supreme Court blocked the implementation of the Safe-T Act’s ruling on Dec. 31, a day before it was set to take effect.

The state’s high court will take up hearings on the matter in March.

That came after the Safe-T Act was initially ruled unconstitutional 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.

Several other state courts have followed suit since leading to the Illinois Supreme Court taking up the issue on an emergency injunction.

A group of 65 state’s attorneys banded together to challenge the law.

Several others followed suit with mirroring legislation after the earlier Kankakee 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,” said McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally, who was one of six attorneys leading up the constitutional challenge.

“It is the legislative process, not the criminal justice system, that is broken in Illinois.”