Evanston Race-Based Reparations For Housing Discrimination Faces Constitutional Challenge

EVANSTON, IL — More than three years after aldermen approved a plan to distribute cash to Black residents and their descendants, a conservative legal nonprofit filed a class action lawsuit arguing that Evanston’s municipal reparations program is unconstitutional. Judicial Watch filed a federal complaint Thursday on behalf of six Evanston residents alleging that the reparations program violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. “The Evanston, Illinois’ ‘reparations’ program is nothing more than a ploy to redistribute tax dollars to individuals based on race,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. Find out what’s happening in Evanstonwith free, real-time updates from Patch. “This scheme unconstitutionally discriminates against anyone who does not identify as Black or African American,” Fitton said. “This class action, civil rights lawsuit will be a historic defense of our color-blind Constitution.” The city’s reparations program was established to provide compensation for housing discrimination that took place between the creation of the city’s zoning code in 1919 and the passage of its fair housing ordinance in 1969. Find out what’s happening in Evanstonwith free, real-time updates from Patch. Neither Margot Flinn, Carol Johnson, Stasys Neimanas, Barbara Regard, Henry Regard, Stephen Weiland, nor their parents or...