JOLIET, Ill. – There’s now a second State’s Attorney in Illinois who is filling lawsuit against the State of Illinois over the “cashless bail” provision of the “SAFE-T Act.”
Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow filed suit on Friday — joining his counterpart in Kankakee County, Jim Rowe, in claiming the act violates the Illinois Constitution.
Glasgow cites several parts of the constitution — one regarding bills being confined to one subject, another on the sureties of bail, one regarding separation of powers, and another on how bills are read in the legislature, and how many times.
Glasgow claims he’s received, “veiled threats” over his opposition, but he says public safety is more important than politics.
“Our state officials knew the right way to amend our Constitution is to place a referendum before the voters; they did it with the graduated tax referendum, and they are doing it now with the worker rights referendum that will be on the ballot in November,” said Glasgow. “They also know that a bill must receive three readings and be limited to a single subject to ensure transparency and full debate. Unfortunately for the people of Illinois, none of this occurred.”
On Friday, the state claimed the efforts to file suit against the act are “weak,” and also alleged that State’s Attorneys would rather allow rapists and murderers to pay their way out of jail.
In the last week, State Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria) claimed the discussion and opposition is nothing more than political games, and that prosecutors she talked to are on board with cashless bail. Like Gordon-Booth, however, Glasgow and Rowe are both listed as Democrats.
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