The Illinois Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday granting courts in the state greater flexibility to conduct detention hearings remotely as they brace for bail reform next month.

The announcement comes less than a month before the state will eliminate cash bail under the Pretrial Fairness Act, which mandated that detention hearings be held in person within 48 hours of an arrest with few exceptions.

In announcing the order, Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis said the high court made the decision due to “the anticipated volume of investigations and hearings on pretrial detention” when the act goes into effect on Sept. 18.

“The courts will be conducting initial hearings not only for newly arrested individuals but also for the over 9,000 individuals who are currently in pretrial detention, resulting in a temporary but significant influx of these types of hearings,” the order states.

The court’s justices upheld the Pretrial Fairness Act in a historic ruling in July, making the state the first in the nation to fully eliminate cash bail as a condition of pretrial release.

With their ruling, the justices overturned a Kankakee County judge’s finding last year that the act was unconstitutional, as a flurry of lawsuits from sheriff’s and state’s attorney’s offices across the state had contended.

The Pretrial Fairness Act was passed as part of a larger package of reforms known at the SAFE-T Act that were signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2021.

Noting the “limited resources” of circuit courts in the state, Theis said she believed the order was necessary to ensure statewide compliance.

“The order permits chief circuit judges to enter local orders approving the operational challenges documented by the Supreme Court and to order these hearings to be conducted remotely where necessary,” the announcement states.

The court said the order was proposed by a task force that considers the use of remote hearings in the court.

The order is likely a response to concerns raised by circuit courts in jurisdictions covering large geographic areas with lower population levels that may not have previously held hearings on weekends, for example.

The order will remain in place until March 18 next year, indicating the justices may intend that the measure only be used as a stop-gap to help court systems comply with new detention hearings requirements initially, then returning to a system that prioritizes in-person appearances in the future.