EVANSTON — The U.S. Department of Justice filed a request on Tuesday asking a judge to halt a reparations program in Evanston. The Justice Department joined an existing lawsuit challenging the reparations program as unconstitutional.

A Tuesday court filing described the program as racially discriminatory. The filing stated that the program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by distributing benefits based on race. Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department Civil Rights Division, stated, "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."

Evanston launched the reparations program in 2021. The program allots $20 million to Black residents and their direct descendants who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969 and experienced housing discrimination from city policies. Residents of any race who faced housing discrimination from city policies after 1969 are also eligible for the program. The city has since distributed more than $7 million to hundreds of recipients.

Attorney Michael Bekesha filed a lawsuit on behalf of six plaintiffs against the city in May 2024. Bekesha said, "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. 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."

Robin Rue Simmons, who pioneered the Evanston reparations program and leads the committee overseeing its funds, stated that the lawsuit and federal government support are intended to dissuade other governments from pursuing similar programs. Simmons asserted that redlining policies implemented across the city between 1919 and 1969 harmed Black communities for generations. She also said, "Evanston has set a new precedent. It has shown that racial reparations are possible."

Program funding is generated from revenue produced by a local tax on legal marijuana sales. Payments are issued in $25,000 increments for home repairs, property down payments, or interest and late penalties on property in Evanston. Approximately 14% of Evanston's roughly 76,000 residents identify as Black, while 11% identify as more than one race, according to U.S. Census data. A majority of the city's Black residents live in the Fifth and Second Wards, which are characterized as historically low-income areas.