Determining Who’s Eligible for Slavery Reparations Could Leave States Vulnerable to Slew of Legal Challenges

As cities and states charge ahead with reparations efforts, questions are swirling about whether the programs are constitutional and how eligibility would be determined, with one observer saying the government trying to prove whether Black people are actually Black highlights “the insanity” of the programs.  California’s recent allocation of $12 million in its budget towards reparations could leave the Golden State vulnerable to a slew of legal challenges.  “Funding for reparations programs may be there, but the constitutional authority is not,” a Pacific Legal Foundation attorney and Reparations Task Force Director, Andrew Quinio, tells the Sun, noting that both the American and Californian Constitutions “do not allow discrimination based on race or ancestry.”  California, which entered the union as a free state and sent more soldiers per-capita to fight for the North than any other state, has been aiming to lead the way nationally on reparations, citing a legacy of slavery and discrimination in the state that has negatively affected Black Californians to this day.  Yet the reparations have come under fire for burdening populations that had nothing to do with slavery in America. No one racial group makes up a majority of California’s population, and the state has more...