Federal Judge Permits Justice Department Intervention in Evanston Reparations Lawsuit

The trans-Atlantic slave trade forced an estimated 12.5 million Africans onto ships bound for the Americas, a figure that anchors the current legal and political debate over reparations in the United States.

Robin Rue Simmons, who now goes by N'nanba, helped establish the first municipal reparations program in Evanston, Illinois. The initiative provides $25,000 housing grants to Black residents whose families were affected by discriminatory housing policies. Simmons chairs the city's Reparations Committee and is a former city councilwoman.

The program faces a federal legal challenge as the Justice Department moves to intervene in a lawsuit. A federal judge granted permission for the department to join the case this month. The lawsuit was originally filed by Judicial Watch, which argues that Evanston distributes funds based on race without identifying specific harm.

Michael Bekesha, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, stated that the Constitution prevents governments from selecting beneficiaries based entirely on race. The Justice Department alleges that the Evanston program violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and the Fair Housing Act. Kiersten Pels, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said that race-based government benefit programs are often unconstitutional and can violate federal civil rights law.

The legal action follows a warning letter sent by the Justice Department last year to leaders in Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina, who were considering similar local programs. The administration's broader campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives has led some institutions to scale back reparations efforts.

President Donald Trump has publicly opposed reparations. In a speech in September, he told supporters, "They want to steal your money for reparations," adding that "it's going nowhere." William Darity, who co-wrote a book on reparations, noted that no president has supported comprehensive Black reparations. Darity said, "Now, Trump will speak the word, but with hostility."

The debate occurs as the nation marks its 250th anniversary. In March, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling the trafficking of enslaved Africans "the gravest crime against humanity." More than 120 countries supported the resolution, while the United States, Argentina, and Israel voted against it. Fifty-two nations, including England and 27 European Union members, abstained.

Universities are also adjusting their approaches to reparations. Georgetown University continues to offer admission consideration to descendants of enslaved people linked to its history. However, Richard Cellini, who previously led a project at Harvard identifying descendants, said that new work in higher education has stalled. His team found nearly 500 living descendants of people enslaved by Harvard's past leaders, but Harvard fired the team days after Trump's anti-DEI order in January 2025.

Some programs continue to provide financial support. Virginia Theological Seminary makes annual cash payments to descendants of people who labored on its campus. The endowment funding these payments has grown from $1.7 million to $2.8 million since 2019. In Evanston, Joe Martin, a 46-year-old Delta flight attendant and grant recipient, said, "40 acres and a mule didn't go down the way it was supposed to," and that when a legitimate program is created, "the government's like, naw."

Simmons is helping spread the Evanston model to more than 100 communities. She said, "Under this administration, of course, there are many barriers to achieving that, but we still stand on federal redress as our collective north star."