MEMPHIS, Tenn — American Civil Liberties Union lawyers have filed a lawsuit against Shelby County officials challenging the new bail law on behalf of Memphis organization Just City.
The lawsuit focuses on the new law, HB1719, which prohibits judges from considering an arrested individual's ability to pay when setting bail.
"This law is contrary to decades of constitutional precedent requiring courts to consider ability to pay as a matter of fundamental fairness," the complaint reads. "The law mandates arbitrariness by requiring judges to ignore the consequences of their bail orders and disregard whether arrestees will be released or detained."
The lawsuit cites the law as violating the Fourteenth Amendment by mandating unfair bail hearing procedures and discriminatory wealth-based detention.
"The new law, which went into effect May 1, targeted successful bail reforms that Shelby County implemented following an agreement with the ACLU, ACLU of Tennessee, Just City, and other local advocates," a press release reads.
"The agreement required the examination of a person’s financial circumstances prior to any bail decision; individualized bail hearings with counsel no later than three days after a person’s arrest; and imposition of secured money bail only as a last resort. As a result, more people returned home to their communities while at the same time lowering the number of people rearrested for new crimes."
The complaint said that the new law specifically targeted the agreement and called it a "direct attack on the reforms," also claiming that baseless allegations were made when citing the reforms link to higher crime rates despite data showing a lower rate of re-arrests following the reforms implementation.
"Our Constitution demands that judges make individualized determinations about pretrial release," said Josh Spickler, executive director at Just City, in a release. "This law prevents judges from doing that crucial work and results in the unnecessary detention of people who pose no risk to public safety because they can't afford to pay an arbitrary bail amount. That's not how our justice system is supposed to work."
The release said the new law creates a two-tiered system of justice which leaves those who cannot afford to pay detained indefinitely, while those who can afford to pay are allowed to leave pre-trial detainment for possibly the same charges.
“Bail reform works, and it was working in Shelby County. More Tennesseans were returning home to live peacefully in their communities,” said Trisha Trigilio, senior staff attorney for the ACLU, said in a release. “This shameful legislation targets low-income and marginalized Tennesseans for pointless jail time. We will not allow Tennessee lawmakers to end successful bail reform for political gain.”
The lawsuit requests a preliminary injunction that would prohibit enforcement of the law by Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, who is listed as a defendant in the case.
The complaint, filed in federal court in the Western District of Tennessee, also lists Presiding Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Bill Anderson Jr., and the 14 judicial commissioners as defendants.
The complaint and press release can be found here: https://www.aclu-tn.org/en/press-releases/just-city-and-legal-advocates-challenge-tennessees-unprecedented-bail-law