- Evanston’s reparations program provides housing aid to Black residents to address past discrimination.
- Lawsuit argues program violates Equal Protection Clause by basing eligibility on race, not individual harm.
- Outcome could impact other cities considering reparations to address lasting effects of racial inequity.
In not-so-shocking news, the Trump administration is adding support to a current legal challenge aimed at dismantling the nation’s first municipal reparations program for Black residents.
According to The Guardian, the U.S. Department of Justice has joined an ongoing lawsuit against the city of Evanston, Illinois, arguing that the city’s reparations initiative violates the Constitution because eligibility is tied to race.
This is only the latest in a growing list of efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to challenge programs designed to address historic racial inequities.
The lawsuit targets Evanston’s groundbreaking reparations program, which was launched in 2021 and hailed by advocates as a model for local governments seeking to repair the lasting effects of racial discrimination.
Under the initiative, eligible Black residents and their descendants can receive up to $25,000 to help address housing-related harms caused by decades of discriminatory city policies.
“There are sound ways for a city to remedy past discrimination or direct resources to its most vulnerable citizens and neighborhoods. Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
DOJ Enters Ongoing Legal Battle
The Guardian states that the legal challenge was originally filed by conservative activist group Judicial Watch on behalf of six plaintiffs who argue they were unlawfully excluded from receiving reparations because they are not Black.
The plaintiffs contend that Evanston’s program violates the Equal Protection Clause because applicants are not required to prove they personally suffered discrimination by the city. Instead, eligibility is largely based on whether applicants or their direct ancestors lived in Evanston during a period when discriminatory housing policies targeted Black residents.
Michael Bekesha, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, argued that previous reparations efforts were tied to specific victims and identifiable harms.
“Reparations programs aren’t new, but they’ve always been lawful, they’ve always been connected to specific harms, specific injuries suffered by specific individuals,” Bekesha said. “And here in Evanston, there is no connection between the individuals receiving the money and any action taken by the city of Evanston at any point.”
Evanston Defends Reparations Program
City leaders have pushed back against those claims and say the program was carefully crafted to address documented harms inflicted on Black residents through decades of discriminatory housing practices.
In the Guardian, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said the city believes the program will withstand legal scrutiny.
“Confident in its constitutionality—and look forward to defending it in court,” Biss said.
Former alderwoman Robin Rue Simmons, who spearheaded the initiative and now chairs Evanston’s reparations committee, argued that the lawsuit is about far more than one city’s program.
“This lawsuit is designed to intimidate and discourage other communities that are beginning their process of reparations, inspired by what Evanston has done,” Simmons said.
She also described the legal challenge as “an attack on the revived hope that Black communities have felt having a path, through a hyperlocal process, to reparations.”
Program Has Distributed Millions To Residents
s Evanston’s reparations program focuses on residents and descendants of residents who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969, when discriminatory zoning laws and housing practices disproportionately harmed Black families.
Funded through local cannabis tax revenue, the initiative had distributed approximately $6.3 million to hundreds of recipients as of last year. The funds are restricted to housing-related expenses such as down payments, mortgage assistance, home repairs, and other property-related costs.
Supporters argue the program addresses measurable harms that continue to affect Black residents generations later. Simmons pointed to longstanding disparities within the city, including a 2022 study that found residents of predominantly Black neighborhoods have a life expectancy that is 13 years shorter than residents in predominantly white communities.
“I do believe strongly that the applicants who lived in Evanston during the eligibility period, and their descendants, experienced calculated harm that was quantifiable,” Simmons said.
As the case moves forward, the outcome could have a national impact for cities and states considering similar reparations programs aimed at addressing the lasting effects of racial discrimination.
