Chicago City Wire

On July 18, the Illinois State Supreme Court gave a majority approval of the SAFE-T Act which will abolish cash bail for non-violent offenders. This change is set to go into effect in September 2023, after sheriffs and lawyers across the state have opposed it for the past year, saying it violates the state's constitution.

"Pritzker-funded justices uphold Pritzker Purge Law just as you would expect in a kakistocratic kleptocracy like IL where the cowards are only outnumbered by the dullards," Chicago's Morning Answer radio talk show host Dan Proft wrote in a July 18 Twitter post. "Get ready for more of that big-city livin', suburbanites."

According to the Chicago Sun Times, of the seven Illinois Supreme Court Justices, five of them voted in favor of abolishing cash bail for non-violent offenders. Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis led the decision, with agreement from Justices P. Scott Neville, Mary K. O'Brien, Joy V. Cunningham, and Elizabeth M. Rochford. Justices Lisa Holder White and David K. Overstreet voted against the decision.

The Center Square reported that the decision stated that “the Illinois Constitution of 1970 does not mandate that monetary bail is the only means to ensure criminal defendants appear for trials or the only means to protect the public.” This overturned the Circuit Court's decision from Kankakee Judge Thomas Cunnington ruling the measure unconstitutional.

Judge David Overstreet gave his dissenting opinion along with the decision. “On the contrary, the legislature’s abolishment of monetary bail is in direct violation of the plain language of our constitution’s bill of rights and, more specifically, the vested rights of crime victims set out in article I, section 8.1, of the Illinois Constitution. Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 8.1(a)(9),” he said. “Therefore, this court has an absolute obligation to declare the pretrial release provisions of the Act to be invalid and unenforceable no matter how beneficial the abolishment of monetary bail may be.”

The Illinois Constitution reads that the victims of crimes should have “The right to have the safety of the victim and the victim's family considered in denying or fixing the amount of bail, determining whether to release the defendant, and setting conditions of release after arrest and conviction.”