Federal courts take aim at local reparations funds

Residents of Evanston, Illinois, face new uncertainty over a housing aid program. The federal government has moved to intervene in a lawsuit targeting the city's grant for Black residents. The program provides $25,000 payments to families affected by past discriminatory housing policies. It stands as the first municipal reparations initiative in the United States.

N'nanba, formerly Robin Rue Simmons, helped design the Evanston program. She now serves as the chair of the city's Reparations Committee. Her team has assisted more than 100 other communities in developing similar plans. These local efforts are now encountering legal resistance from the Trump administration. Officials are scrutinizing race-based benefits as part of a wider campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion measures.

A federal judge in Illinois allowed the Department of Justice to join the case this month. The original lawsuit was filed by the group Judicial Watch. Michael Bekesha, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, argues that the Constitution prohibits governments from selecting winners based solely on race. The Justice Department contends that the Evanston program violates the 14th Amendment and the Fair Housing Act. A department spokeswoman named Kiersten Pels stated that such programs are often unconstitutional.

This legal move follows a warning letter sent last year to leaders in North Carolina. Officials in Asheville and Buncombe County were considering their own reparations plans at the time. The federal intervention adds pressure to local governments that are trying to establish similar financial aid structures for descendants of enslaved people.

The debate over reparations has gained international attention as well. In March, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on the slave trade. The text described the trafficking of millions of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. More than 120 countries voted in favor of the resolution. The United States, along with Argentina and Israel, voted against it. Fifty-two nations, including the United Kingdom and 27 members of the European Union, abstained from the vote.

Historical data frames the scale of the issue. An estimated 12.5 million Africans were forced onto ships during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Approximately 1.8 million died during the voyage. Around 388,000 were taken to what is now the United States. William Darity, a co-author of a book on reparations, noted that no previous president has supported comprehensive reparations. Trump told supporters in September that opponents want to steal money for reparations and that the effort is going nowhere.

Some institutions continue to provide support despite the federal pushback. Georgetown University still offers admission consideration to descendants of enslaved people. Richard Cellini, a former head of a Harvard research project, said new academic work on the topic has stalled. Harvard fired the team that identified nearly 500 living descendants days after Trump issued an anti-DEI order in January 2025. In Evanston, Joe Martin, a 46-year-old flight attendant, received one of the housing grants. He described the government's reaction to legitimate programs as a simple no.