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Ill. attorney general appeals decision blocking elimination of cash bail

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called a judge's ruling blocking the implementation of a cash bail reform law "a setback." The state's attorney general on Friday appealed the ruling. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | <a href="/News_Photos/lp/d490e396f91dc4ab6bbe6da8360fa026/" target="_blank">License Photo</a>
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called a judge’s ruling blocking the implementation of a cash bail reform law “a setback.” The state’s attorney general on Friday appealed the ruling. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 31 (UPI) — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed an appeal to overturn a judge’s ruling blocking a new state law eliminating cash bail that is supported by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Raoul on Friday asked the state’s supreme court to reverse a decision issued earlier this week by a Kankakee County, Ill., circuit judge finding that the bail provisions of the SAFE-T Act violate the separation of powers clause of the Illinois Constitution

Pritzker on Wednesday called the ruling by Circuit Judge Thomas Cunnington a “setback for the principles we fought to protect through the passage of the SAFE-T Act” and vowed to appeal.

“The General Assembly and advocates worked to replace an antiquated criminal justice system with a system rooted in equity and fairness,” he said. “We cannot and should not defend a system that fails to keep people safe by allowing those who are a threat to their community the ability to simply buy their way out of jail.”

The law’s provisions were set to take effect on Sunday, but the ruling means that the end of cash bail will not take effect in 65 counties that had sued to block that provision. The bail reform, however, can still go into effect in 37 other counties that were not part of the lawsuit.

On Friday, Raoul asked the state’s high court to reverse the decision.

The SAFE-T Act, which Pritzker signed into law in 2021, also includes body camera requirements for police departments and new police training mandates. Those will go into effect on Jan. 1.

Raoul on Wednesday slammed the last-minute objections to a law Pritzker signed nearly two years ago, noting that “my office received less than one hour’s notice of hearings in some counties and no notice at all in others. … To say that this is an abuse of the judicial process is an understatement.”

Democrats hold a 5-2 majority on the Illinois Supreme Court.

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