The city of Evanston has violated the U.S. Constitution by implementing a new race-based "reparations" program designed to pay millions of dollars to current and former black residents of Evanston and their descendants, a new class action lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit was filed May 23 in Chicago federal court by the Washington, D.C.-based conservative public policy advocacy group, Judicial Watch, on behalf of several white former Evanston residents and their descendants.
"The Evanston, Illinois ‘reparations’ program is nothing more than a ploy to redistribute tax dollars to individuals based on race," Judicial Watch said in a release announcing the court action. "This scheme unconstitutionally discriminates against anyone who does not identify as Black or African American.
Paul Orfanedes
| Oyez.org
"This class action, civil rights lawsuit will be a historic defense of our color-blind Constitution."
The lawsuit specifically takes aim at a policy established by the north suburban city of Evanston in 2021, allegedly to make up for decades of alleged race-based housing decisions and other alleged racist mistreatment at the hands of city officials.
Known as the Evanston Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program, the city originally stated it would dedicate $10 million to pay up $25,000 to black current and former Evanston residents and their families for down payments on home purchases or to put towards repairs and renovations to existing homes.
City officials at the time said the program was intended to help black and African-American residents purchase and maintain homes in Evanston and build "intergenerational wealth" and "equity."
The city committed an additional $10 million to the program in 2022, and in 2023 revised the rules to allow for direct cash payments to black Evanston residents and their descendants, and potentially others who assert they have suffered discrimination in Evanston.
According to the lawsuit, the city has approved payments of $25,000 each to 141 people identified as "ancestors," meaning they are black, live in Evanston and were at least 18 years old during the period from 1919 to 1969. The lawsuit states Evanston records show 129 of those people have received payment.
The lawsuit says city records show Evanston intends to make $25,000 payments to at least 454 additional applicants who qualify as "direct descendants" of black Evanston residents, beginning with at least 80 payments in 2024. The lawsuit says 60 of those 80 initial "direct descendant" recipients chose to receive direct cash payments, rather than housing assistance grants.
Named plaintiffs in the action include Margot Flinn, Carol Johnson, Stasys Neimanas, Barbara Regard, Henry Regard and Stephen Weiland. All claim their parents or grandparents, or both, lived in Evanston as adults from 1919-1969.
But because none of the plaintiffs nor their parents and grandparents are black, the lawsuit says they don't qualify to participate in the Evanston program. This, they say, means the city and its program illegally and unconstitutionally discriminates solely on the basis of race.
The lawsuit claims the city's program and policies amount to clear violations of non-black residents' and "descendants'" rights to equal protection under the 14th Amendment.
Evanston's "use of race as an eligibility requirement is presumptively unconstitutional," the lawsuit says.
"Remedying discrimination from 55 to 105 years ago or remedying discrimination experienced at any time by an individual’s parents, grandparents, or great grandparents has not been recognized as a compelling governmental interest. Defendant (Evanston) also has not demonstrated that its actions between 1919 and 1969 constituted a prima facie constitutional or statutory violation of anti-discrimination laws in effect at the time, let alone provide a strong basis in evidence that remedial action is necessary five-plus decades if not more than a century later," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit further notes the city has not taken any steps to actually compel potential recipients of the "reparations" grants to show they, their parents or grandparents actually suffered discrimination because of actions taken by the city government. Instead, the lawsuit said, the city is merely paying money to anyone who is black and whose family lived in the city from 1919-1969. The lawsuit says such a program, which uses race as a "proxy" to stand in for actual discrimination claims, is unconstitutional.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the program unconstitutional, and to order the city to pay the plaintiffs and potentially thousands of others whose parents or grandparents lived in Evanston from 1919-1969 and are not black $25,000 each, potentially in addition to payments to the black applicants through the "reparations" program.
Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Paul J. Orfanedes and Michael Bekesha, of Judicial Watch; and Christine Svenson, of the firm of Chalmers Adams Backer & Kaufman, of Palatine.