President Trump’s Justice Department is taking direct aim at one of the most brazen race-based handout schemes in the country.

On June 16, 2026, the DOJ Civil Rights Division moved to intervene in Flinn et al. v. City of Evanston, a federal lawsuit challenging the Chicago suburb’s reparations housing program.

The government’s message was blunt.

Handing out money based on skin color is not justice. It is discrimination.

And the DOJ says it is illegal.

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Here is what Evanston built.

The core reparations track offers $25,000 payments or housing-related financial assistance to eligible Black residents and their descendants.

DOJ says similarly situated non-Black residents and descendants are excluded from that track.

According to the DOJ, current or former residents and descendants can qualify whether or not they or their ancestors were ever victims of discrimination by the city.

For the 1919 to 1969 category, DOJ says race is the gate, not proof of a specific injury.

The Justice Department says the program violates both the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Fair Housing Act.

The government’s proposed complaint argues benefits are distributed solely on the basis of race and ancestry. By the DOJ’s count, Evanston has already paid out over $5 million, with millions more planned as funds become available.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon did not soften it in the Justice Department announcement:

It is race discrimination, pure and simple. And it is illegal.

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The DOJ motion to intervene lays out the posture of the case, filed as No. 24-cv-4269 in the Northern District of Illinois.

The plaintiffs do not oppose federal intervention. Evanston does not consent to it.

That tells you who is afraid of more legal firepower entering the room.

In its complaint in intervention, the United States asks the court to halt and remedy the alleged Equal Protection Clause and Fair Housing Act violations. The legal theory is straightforward: you cannot sort Americans into winners and losers by race and call it remedy.

This fight did not start with the DOJ.

Judicial Watch filed the class action lawsuit back in May 2024 on behalf of six individuals, challenging the program’s race-based eligibility head on.

Evanston tried to get the case tossed. A federal judge denied the city’s motion to dismiss in March 2026, letting the lawsuit move forward.

Now the federal government is climbing in alongside the plaintiffs.

For wider context, the Associated Press reported the Evanston program launched in 2021 and was billed as the first and only program of its kind in the country.

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The AP reported the program allotted $20 million and had distributed over $7 million in $25,000 increments.

That is the model cities across the country were watching as a blueprint.

Even commentators outside the conservative lane see where this is heading.

The distinction the DOJ is pressing is the whole ballgame.

A program built to redress specific, proven acts of discrimination is one thing. A program that simply moves cash to people based on race is something the Constitution does not allow.

Evanston chose the second path, and now the federal government is in court to stop it.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

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