Evanston: Federal Government Seeks to Halt Nation’s First Reparations Program, Calling It Unconstitutional

The DOJ joins a lawsuit against Evanston’s $20 million reparations program

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice filed a motion Tuesday to join a federal lawsuit seeking to stop Evanston’s reparations program. The program is the first of its kind in the United States. It distributes $25,000 housing grants to Black residents and their descendants who faced race-based housing discrimination in the city.

The Justice Department’s filing argues the program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. It also claims the program violates the federal Fair Housing Act.

“Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer. It is race discrimination, pure and simple. And it is illegal.”

That statement came from Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, according to a press release published by the department.

Who qualifies and how the money is funded

Evanston’s Restorative Housing Program launched in 2021. It is funded by a local tax on legal marijuana sales. The city has committed up to $20 million to the program.

The program distributes payments to two groups:

• Ancestors: Black Evanston residents who lived in the city as adults between 1919 and 1969
• Direct descendants: Children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of those ancestors

Residents of any race who experienced housing discrimination due to city policies after 1969 also qualify, according to city documents.

The city has already distributed more than $7 million to hundreds of people. The funds are used for home repairs, down payments on property, and interest or late penalties on property in Evanston, according to the Associated Press.

Of the 141 total qualified applicants in the ancestors category, 137 have received benefits totaling $3.47 million, according to the Evanston RoundTable.

The original lawsuit and the six plaintiffs

The DOJ’s intervention joins a class-action lawsuit originally filed in May 2024 by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group. The suit was filed on behalf of six non-Black plaintiffs who said they are direct descendants of Evanston residents but were denied eligibility because of their race.

The six plaintiffs do not currently live in Evanston, according to the court filing.

“Among the program’s other fatal flaws is that it uses race as a proxy for discrimination without requiring proof of discrimination,”

Judicial Watch argued in a March filing, according to the Evanston RoundTable.

Michael Bekesha, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said applicants were not required to demonstrate they were specifically harmed by the City of Evanston. He argued that race was the only criteria for eligibility.

“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 in an interview with the Associated Press. “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.”

The city says the program is legal and necessary

Robin Rue Simmons, a former Evanston alderperson who spearheaded the program and now chairs the Evanston Reparations Committee, called the DOJ’s lawsuit a “fear tactic.”

“It is not a challenge to one small city, but a direct attempt to reverse the broader and growing movement for reparative justice,” Simmons wrote in an opinion piece for the Evanston RoundTable.

Simmons said the program was designed to address municipal harms created by the city’s own exclusionary zoning policies that denied Black residents opportunities to build wealth and stability.

She said redlining policies across Evanston between 1919 and 1969 harmed Black communities for generations. Those policies limited access to high-paying jobs, healthcare, and education, she said.

“When governments cause harm, governments have a responsibility to repair it,” Simmons said.

Evanston Mayor Daniel Bliss said the city is reviewing the DOJ’s filing. He said the city stands behind its reparations program and is confident in its constitutionality, according to the Associated Press.

City spokesperson Cynthia Vargas said Evanston maintains its position on the legality of the program. She said the city does not provide comments regarding active litigation, according to the Evanston RoundTable.

What happens next in court

The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Judge John F. Kress rejected Evanston’s attempt to dismiss the original lawsuit in March 2026. He found that the plaintiffs had sufficient standing to pursue their constitutional claims, according to the Evanston RoundTable.

The DOJ’s filing cited the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais, a voting rights case. The department argued that the Constitution “almost never permits [a government] to discriminate on the basis of race,” according to the Atlanta Black Star.

The Trump administration opened an investigation of the program in March 2026. The DOJ said the city refused to cooperate by supplying requested documents and information. That refusal prompted the decision to intervene, according to the Atlanta Black Star.

Why this matters beyond Evanston

Approximately 14 percent of Evanston’s roughly 76,000 residents are Black, according to the U.S. Census. A majority of the city’s Black residents live in the Fifth and Second Wards, which are historically low-income areas, according to a 2024 study on the reparations program.

Simmons said at least five states and hundreds of other cities across the U.S. are now engaged in reparations work. She said those efforts include commissions, legislation, harm reports, direct benefits programs, and community-led processes.

She said the DOJ’s move could set a chilling precedent for other communities pursuing similar programs.

Simmons also serves as executive director of FirstRepair, a nonprofit based in Evanston that helps other municipalities develop their own reparations policies, according to the Evanston RoundTable.

A shift from the Biden administration

The Trump administration’s move marks a decisive shift from the previous administration. Former President Joe Biden supported a congressional inquiry into ways to address the government’s long history of racial subjugation, according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. was one of three countries that rejected a recent United Nations resolution urging nations to implement reparations for the trafficking of Africans into slavery. The United Kingdom and all 27 European Union countries abstained from the vote, according to the Associated Press.

Simmons called the lawsuit an “attempted lynching by lawsuit” in an opinion piece. She said the goal is not simply to stop Evanston’s program. She said it is to discourage other communities from pursuing repair, according to the Evanston RoundTable.