Rockford Sun

State Rep. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) is celebrating the overturning of the SAFE-T Act in the majority of the state’s counties. 

Of the counties, 65 were plaintiffs in the lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the legislation. 

“Yesterday, a Kankakee Judge ruled the provision of the SAFE-T Act ending cash bail unconstitutional,” Chesney said on Facebook. “From day one I have fought the Democrat-pushed and hastily crafted SAFE-T Act that would put families, victims and law enforcement in danger. Democrats refused to listen to legal professionals and law enforcement; instead, they used their supermajority status to steamroll the legislation through the process resulting in the unconstitutional ruling.” 

Chesney added “This all could have been avoided if the Democrats had simply held real bipartisan working groups and hearings that took into consideration the testimony of law enforcement, states attorneys, victim advocates and others. Let’s see if the lesson is learned.” 

Kankakee County Chief Judge Thomas W. Cunnington, of the 21st Judicial Circuit Court of Illinois, was responsible for the ruling. In his decision, he concluded that “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.” 

Criminal law professor Richard Kling said the ruling was a forgone conclusion. “The arguments raised all had merit, they weren’t frivolous,” Kling said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The SAFE-T Act will still take effect on Jan. 1 in the 37 counties not included in the lawsuit including Cook County. In those counties, thousands of inmates currently being held in jails while they await trial on serious crimes would be released. But after the judge’s ruling, the 65 counties involved in the lawsuit will not be subject to those provisions of the SAFE-T Act. The Act changed after a campaign communications blitz revealed several glaring errors in the law. No Republicans voted for the bill or the subsequent changes. When the SAFE-T Act is implemented in the surviving counties, those charged with the most heinous crimes—such as robbery, kidnapping, arson, second-degree murder, intimidation, aggravated battery, aggravated DUI, aggravated flight, drug-related homicide, and threatening a public official—will be freed, as Will County Gazette has previously reported.