U.S. District Judge John Kness denied a motion to dismiss a Judicial Watch lawsuit challenging a reparations program in Evanston, IL.
“As explained below, Plaintiffs’ allegations of deterrence by race-based criteria are sufficient to establish Article III standing at the pleading stage,” wrote Kness. “Disputes over the merits, and consequently, the timeliness of Plaintiffs’ claims are best resolved through ordinary merits discovery, where the Court can benefit from a full factual record.”
Evanston passed a program in 2019 that pays $25,000 to black residents and black descendants who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969.
The suburb of Chicago approved a $10 million reparations program for its black residents as compensation “for codified discrimination:”
“The Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program … acknowledges the harm caused to Black/African-American Evanston residents due to discriminatory housing policies and practices and inaction on the part of the City,” the resolution reads.The program is a step toward “revitalizing, preserving, and stabilizing Black/African-American owner-occupied homes in Evanston, increasing homeownership and building the wealth of Black/African-American residents, building intergenerational equity amongst Black/African-American residents, and improving the retention rate of Black/African-American homeowners in the City of Evanston,” the resolution reads.
Evanston has paid 137 people, totaling $3.47 million.
The Reparations Committee said over 40 people would receive payment this year.
Judicial Watch claimed that the program violated the Equal Protection Clause found in the Fourteenth Amendment:
[T]he program’s use of a race-based eligibility requirement is presumptively unconstitutional, and remedying societal discrimination is not a compelling government interest. Nor has remedying discrimination from as many as 105 years ago or remedying intergenerational discrimination ever been recognized as a compelling government interest. Among the program’s other fatal flaws is that it uses race as a proxy for discrimination without requiring proof of discrimination.
“Evanston’s reparations program provides $25,000 cash payments to blacks only,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Constitution forbids race-based government programs like this. We welcome the court’s decision to allow this historic lawsuit to move forward against this woke, racist program.”
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