The Department of Justice has asked a federal judge to block a Chicago housing reparations program for black residents, arguing that it is unconstitutional.

Evanston, Ill., a Chicago suburb, began a housing reparations program in 2021 that offers as much as $25,000 to black persons or their descendents, if they can show they were impacted by the city's housing discrimination policies from 1919 to 1969.

The DOJ asserted in its filing that the program violates the 14th Amendment, because it does not offer similar reparations to people of other races who were affected by the discriminatory policies.

Evanston Mayor Daniel Bliss, who recently won the Democratic nomination for Congress in his district, said in 2023 that the program aimed to show "that a small municipality can make real tangible progress."

He defended the program on Tuesday, saying he was "confident in its constitutionality," The Hill reported.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.