Prairie State Wire

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is appealing an Illinois Supreme Court ruling overturning the no-cash-bail provision of the SAFE-T Act. 

Raoul’s statement came after the Illinois Supreme Court stayed the law set to take effect Jan. 1 after a series of rulings in lower courts regarding the Act’s constitutionality. 

“As we have stated previously, my office filed an appeal with the Illinois Supreme Court because in this matter, only the Supreme Court’s final decision on the merits will be binding on all Illinois courts,” Raoul said in a press release. “It is important to note that the order issued today by the court is not a decision on the merits of the constitutionality of the SAFE-T Act, and I appreciate the court’s interest in expediting the appeal. We look forward to mounting a robust defense of the constitutionality of the law and ensuring that it goes into effect across the state.” 

The Illinois State Supreme Court 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. 

Raoul may be counting on the court’s partisan divide. Democrats Elizabeth Rochford and Mary Kay O’Brien won seats on the court in 2022 tipping the court’s balance of power to a 5-2 split favoring Democrats.

Greenville attorney Tom DeVore, the 2022 GOP candidate for attorney general, criticized Raoul for his comments. “In a recent statement by Attorney General Kwame Raoul, he proclaimed the following: 'the right of individuals awaiting criminal trials - people who have not been convicted of a crime and are presumed innocent - to seek release from jail without having to pay cash bail will go into effect in a few short days, despite the court's ruling against those provisions,’ Raoul said,” DeVore said in a press release, Metro East Sun reported. “This statement is blatant misinformation. Once again Attorney General Raoul is outright lying to the people of the State of Illinois, or in the alternative, he really has no understanding of the law. ... In the Court's ruling, the judge entered a final ruling on the merits holding the ‘no cash bail’ provisions of the SAFE-T Act unconstitutional. This ruling has the legal effect of rendering the 'no cash bail’ provisions unlawful statewide. As of today, it is as if these provisions do not exist.”

The 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.”