US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case Opposing Cash Bail in Dallas County

A pedestrian walks toward the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on June 5, 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a case that accused a Texas county of having cash bail practices that violate the constitutional rights of detainees by discriminating against those who are poor.

The Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari on Jan. 8 in the case, which had its beginnings in 2018 when a coalition of groups—including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)—filed a lawsuit on behalf of six plaintiffs, alleging systemic unconstitutional pretrial detention practices in Dallas County.

Dallas County judges established a system of bail “schedules,” which correlate bail amounts with specific criminal charges. These schedules are used by magistrates to order preset cash bail amounts as a condition of release, and arrestees who can’t afford their bail amounts are detained for weeks or months before getting a chance to be released.

The plaintiffs opposed this arrangement, accusing officials in Dallas County of operating a two-tiered justice system based on wealth, in violation of the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Balancing Rights and Risks

Detractors of cash bail argue that the practice creates a two-tiered system that disproportionately affects the poor. Those who can afford to post bail after being arrested are released from detention until trial, while those who cannot must sit in jail until they appear in court.

“No person should be kept in a cage just because she doesn’t have enough money to make a payment,” attorney Elizabeth Rossi of the Civil Rights Corps, one of the groups that filed the suit, said in a statement at the time the suit was filed.

“The decision to throw a person who is presumed innocent in a jail cell is a serious one. And a person’s access to money should not be the only factor that determines whether she is free or is in jail,” Ms. Rossi added.

Cash bail has its proponents, however, who argue that eliminating the practice means that more people charged with crimes will be out on the streets, making society less safe.

The district court sided with the plaintiffs in 2019, ruling that the predetermined bail schedule violates the constitutional rights of arrestees and issuing an emergency order to halt the practice. However, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a contrary ruling, leading the plaintiffs to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has now been denied.

Dallas County lawyer Kate David praised the Supreme Court action in an email to the Dallas Morning News.

“The judges in Dallas County can continue to serve the community by balancing the rights of defendants with the risks to the public and crime victims,” Ms. David wrote.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the ACLU with a request for comment on the Supreme Court’s decision but did not receive a response by publication time.

However, the plaintiffs in the case have argued in multiple filings that the Dallas County cash bail system violates the Constitution’s equal protection and due process provisions as it jails people pretrial based on their inability to pay, without individualized findings that detention is necessary to protect the community.

‘General Deterrence’

California’s Los Angeles County recently implemented a new bail schedule commonly described as zero bail or no-cash bail, which eliminates the financial requirements for release from pretrial custody for all but the most serious offenses.

In August 2023, during a hearing on the zero-bail policy, Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore testified in favor of cash bail, saying that when the general public sees arrestees immediately released, it has the “potential of significantly undermining the public’s trust.”

“I do believe that bail acts as a general deterrence,” Mr. Moore testified, according to Courthouse News. “It creates consequences. You face a risk of being incarcerated as a punishment.”

Mr. Moore said he did not agree, as detractors of cash bail have repeatedly argued, that cash bail creates a two-tiered system.

Under the county’s zero-bail policy, county law enforcement has three categories to choose from after a suspect is arrested—cite and release, book and release, or magistrate review, meaning the case should be reviewed by a magistrate judge before applying bail.

Examples of offenses that will require magistrate reviews are crimes involving firearms, sexual battery, violence against children or seniors, and persons arrested for a felony while on parole or community supervision.

Jill McLaughlin contributed to this report.