CHICAGO — Just one day before the controversial SAFE-T Act was to go into effect, the Illinois Supreme Court placed the no-cash bail measure on hold until further notice.

A Kane County judge on Wednesday ruled in favor of two-thirds of Illinois counties that had joined a lawsuit seeking to have the bail provision tossed out before it would go into effect.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul immediately appealed that ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.

That ruling opened the question of what the remaining counties, such as Marion County, would do come January 1 – allow the new law to take effect or ignore the law and continue setting bonds on cases as before?

On Friday, Marion County State’s Attorney Tim Hudspeth and Sheriff Kevin Cripps filed a complaint in Marion County Court asking for an injunction and declaratory judgment against the bail provision of the Act. Judge Jeff DeLong took the matter under advisement and on Saturday approved that injunction.

The High Court on Saturday ordered that not only the no cash bail portion but the Pretrial Fairness Act in its entirety will not go into effect until further notice “in order to maintain consistent pretrial procedures throughout Illinois.” 

The stay will be in effect until the Supreme Court rules on the case’s merits as to whether it is constitutional, which could take months.