The first reparations program for slavery in the United States is under legal attack, with conservatives seeking to end the benefits provided to Black residents in one Illinois city. Now, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is attempting to intervene against the program, arguing that it discriminates against non-Black residents.
DOJ joins conservative organization, claiming reparations program is discriminatory
The Department of Justice has announced its intention to join a lawsuit against the city of Evanston, Illinois, over its reparations program. The conservative organization Judicial Watch, which argues that the program is “purposefully and intentionally discriminating” against the city’s non-Black residents, launched the class-action suit in 2024 on behalf of six non-Black descendants of Evanston residents who argue they are unable to access the reparations funds despite meeting the other eligibility criteria.
The Justice Department is now seeking to join the lawsuit, arguing that Evanston’s program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment as well as the Fair Housing Act and that the program is not “narrowly tailored” to address past discrimination.
Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, said in a statement that “There are sound ways for a city to remedy past discrimination or direct resources to its most vulnerable citizens and neighborhoods.”
According to Dhillon, however, “Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer. It is race discrimination, pure and simple. And it is illegal.”
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton applauded the Trump administration’s intervention, saying, “We are happy that the United States is following our lead and welcome it as an ally in this historic lawsuit against a woke, racist program.”
The government of Evanston said through a spokesperson that the city “maintains its position” that the program is lawful, declining to comment further because of the ongoing litigation.
The status of reparations efforts and conservative backlash
Evanston approved its reparations program in 2019 and finalized the details in 2021, creating the first publicly funded reparations program for anti-Black discrimination in the United States. The Evanston program focuses narrowly on past housing discrimination, making Black people who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969, or their descendants, eligible if they can demonstrate they were victims of discriminatory housing practices.
The program provides up to $25,000 to eligible Black residents to purchase or repair their homes, with some city residents complaining that the housing-focused benefit is too narrow to be useful for many people. Even with this narrow focus, however, right-wing groups such as Judicial Watch immediately opposed the program as discriminatory against non-Black residents.
Evanston’s program set the stage for larger reparations proposals from city and state governments across the United States, though with mixed results in places such as California. At the federal level, legislation to study reparations for slavery and other anti-Black discrimination has been proposed annually since 1989 but has never advanced in Congress.
Internationally, more than 100 countries led by the African Union and the Caribbean Community have condemned the transatlantic slave trade and called for an international reparations program. Meanwhile, conservatives in the United States have sought to downplay the impact of anti-Black discrimination and have opposed programs intended to address racism. The conservative majority on the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious college admissions policies and weakened key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, while the Trump administration has launched a campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and promoted an agenda that portrays white Americans as the primary victims of discrimination. Critics have similarly described the administration’s recently proposed “anti-weaponization fund” as a reparations fund for “white supremacists.”
By opposing Evanston’s reparations program, the Trump administration appears to be continuing its effort to challenge policies intended to address anti-Black discrimination while portraying white Americans as victims of racial discrimination. The outcome of the Evanston case could have a major impact on the future of reparations efforts across the United States as campaigns to address anti-Black oppression continue to face opposition from conservative groups.