Federal Halt on Reparations
Federal Government Seeks to Halt Evanston's Black Reparations Program Citing Racial Discrimination
The Trump administration moved on June 16, 2026 to shut down the first reparations program in U.S. history. The Justice Department filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit targeting Evanston, Illinois's program, which gives $25,000 grants to Black residents harmed by 20th-century housing discrimination, according to AP News.
Evanston launched the program in 2021 and has already paid out more than $7 million to 137 residents, funded by a 3% tax on legal cannabis sales. The DOJ called it "race discrimination, pure and simple" — a sharp break from the Biden era, when the federal government supported local reparations studies.
How Evanston Built the First U.S. Reparations Program
In 2019, the Evanston City Council voted to create a Reparations Fund — the first of its kind in the country. The money targets specific harm: city-enforced redlining and discriminatory zoning that confined Black residents to two neighborhoods between 1919 and 1969. The program was formally adopted in March 2021, according to AP News.
The city has committed $20 million total — $10 million from cannabis taxes and $10 million from a real estate transfer tax. Grants of $25,000 go to eligible Black residents, either as housing assistance or direct cash. Evanston has about 76,000 residents; 14% are Black, per U.S. Census data.
DOJ Calls Grants Unconstitutional Under Equal Protection Clause
The Justice Department, led on this case by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, argues the program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. "Simply handing out money based on race is not the answer," Dhillon said in a DOJ statement. "It is race discrimination, pure and simple."
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche certified the case as a matter of "public importance," allowing the DOJ to intervene under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros argued the program "divides the citizenry and establishes the very hierarchy the Equal Protection Clause was designed to dismantle," according to AP News.
Evanston Fights Back as Private Lawsuit Moves Forward
The federal move follows a private lawsuit filed in May 2024. Six non-Black Evanston residents, represented by conservative group Judicial Watch, sued the city in a case called *Flinn v. City of Evanston*, claiming the program's race-based eligibility is unconstitutional. In March 2026, a federal judge refused to dismiss the case, ruling the plaintiffs have standing to sue, according to AP News.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss is not backing down. "We stand behind our first-in-the-nation reparations program, are confident in its constitutionality, and look forward to defending it in court," he said, per AP News. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton praised the DOJ's move, calling the program "blatantly unconstitutional."
A Win for the Feds Could Freeze Reparations Programs Nationwide
Legal analysts say the stakes go far beyond Evanston. If the court sides with the DOJ, it could effectively block dozens of similar programs being developed in cities like San Francisco and Chicago. The case may eventually reach the Supreme Court, which in 2023 already limited race-conscious programs in its *SFFA v. Harvard* ruling, according to AP News.
Advocates for the program warn that hundreds of eligible Black residents currently on the waitlist will lose access to the $25,000 grants if the program is halted. Civil rights groups argue that because the original harm was race-based, only a race-conscious remedy can truly fix it. Legal scholars also note a sharp irony: the DOJ is using the Fair Housing Act — a law designed to protect Black Americans — to oppose a program meant to help them, AP News reported.
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