Will County Gazette

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow has filed suit to stop the SAFE-T Act from taking effect Jan. 1, 2023.

The much maligned act will end cash bail statewide, resulting in the release of thousands of prisoners awaiting trial on serious charges, such as murder.

Glasgow filed the lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, House Speaker Emanuel Christopher Welch and Senate President Don Harmon.

“It is my sworn duty as Will County’s State’s Attorney to protect the people of Will County and the State of Illinois,” Glasgow said in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “To put it in plain and simple terms, this is not about politics; it is about public safety.”

Glasgow said he has to put the safety of his constituents first.

“Sadly, I have received veiled threats over my opposition to this legislation, but I must put the safety of my constituents first. On this issue, I’ll grab a line from Tom Petty – ‘You can stand me up at the gates of Hell, and I won’t back down.’ The passage of this enormous piece of legislation – a bill that grew from seven pages to 764 pages in a couple days, and was presented in the wee hours of the morning without an opportunity for lawmakers or stakeholders to read let alone comprehend the full text – violated fundamental constitutional provisions designed to ensure our system of governance functions transparently and serves the people it was established to protect,” he said. “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. 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.”

He said he supports reforming the bail system and “enacting criminal justice legislation that passes constitutional muster.”

“New Jersey’s criminal justice reform legislation and how it came about offers an example of the right way to do it, through a constitutional referendum and legislation that has been thoroughly vetted and appropriately tailored. They passed a referendum in 2014 and then worked in a bipartisan fashion on the enabling legislation. Over the last five years, New Jersey has reduced its jail population by 44% with virtually no increase in crime," Glasgow said. “The New Jersey law respects the role played by law enforcement, the prosecutors and the judiciary in protecting their communities from violent offenders. I stand ready to work with lawmakers to accomplish this in the State of Illinois.”

Glasgow’s office sent a tweet out about the lawsuit noting its unconstitutionality.

“Today, Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow filed a lawsuit in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Will County setting forth numerous constitutional violations of Public Act 101-652, the ‘Safe-T Act,’” Glasgow’s office tweeted.  

Glasgow initially weighed in on the SAFE-T Act as one of the first state’s attorneys to start making noise on the bill.

Back in July at an Independence Day gathering, Glasgow noted those who signed the bill likely did not know what it contained.

“Obviously this is something that if every person knew what was in it when they voted for that 800 pages in two days in Springfield, you've got legislators who aren't lawyers. You've got legislators who are criminal lawyers trying to read all of that. And in two days, it was impossible,” he said.

At the time he noted the act “will be stopped,” according to the Will County Gazette.

A criminal who is currently incarcerated and would have been on the streets if the SAFE-T Act had been in place attacked Glasgow.

Glasgow claims that the action will strengthen criminals and thwart efforts to make the state's criminal laws more strictly enforced. He said that because of the SAFE-T Act, police enforcement will be powerless.

“(Under) equal protection under the law,” Glasgow said on Chicago’s Morning Answer on AM 560, the Gazette reported. “The new statute says that bail is abolished. And if that were to take place over 600 prisoners in the Will County Jail – they also have victims and witnesses who feel secure because of that.”