The Department of Justice has moved to intervene in a federal lawsuit challenging Evanston, Illinois' reparations housing program, arguing the city's distribution of housing benefits and cash payments based on race is illegal because it violates the Constitution and federal housing law.
The DOJ said the program provides $25,000 in cash payments or housing assistance to Black residents who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969 and to their descendants, while excluding similarly situated residents of other races.
"Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer. It is race discrimination, pure and simple — and it is illegal," Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement announcing the filing.
The federal government's proposed complaint alleges the program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Fair Housing Act.
"The Constitution demands that the government treat citizens as individuals, not as members of a racial class," U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros said.
"Distributing public funds based on an individual's ancestry or race divides the citizenry and establishes the very hierarchy the Equal Protection Clause was designed to dismantle."
According to the DOJ, Evanston has distributed more than $5 million through the program and plans to provide millions more as funding becomes available.
The city launched its reparations planning process in 2019 after adopting a reparations resolution.
Evanston's website displays the foundational resolution for the program which proclaims that "the City Council acknowledges that the trauma inflicted on people of color by persistent white supremacist ideology results in psychological harm affecting educational, economic, and social outcomes."
The federal filing stems from a lawsuit brought by descendants of former Evanston residents who lived in the city during the eligibility period but who are not Black and therefore do not qualify for benefits under the program.
A federal judge denied the city's motion to dismiss the lawsuit in March, allowing the case to proceed.
The DOJ said it opened its own investigation of the program that same month under the Equal Protection Clause and the Fair Housing Act.
The DOJ accused the city leadership of refusing to cooperate with the investigation.
Evanston city leaders said they remain confident the program will withstand the legal challenge.
Mayor Daniel Biss said the city is "reviewing the Justice Department filing" and added, "We stand behind our first-in-the-nation reparations program, are confident in its constitutionality, and look forward to defending it in court."
Evanston Now reported that FirstRepair, a nonprofit that helps distribute reparations funds, called the DOJ action an "unfortunate escalation," and added it remains committed to a "growing movement for reparative justice."
The group said it continues to support Evanston's ideas to address what it described as "the specific, documented impacts of unlawful zoning and housing policies instituted by the City of Evanston."