Mayor Brandon Johnson is again turning to federal court to prevent President Donald Trump from withholding millions of dollars in grants to force Chicago to abandon diversity programs he derisively labels as “wokeness.”
In this instance, the grant involves money for community policing.
Trump has vowed to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public schools and college admissions, and in corporate and governmental hiring. In May, the Justice Department launched a federal civil rights investigation into Chicago’s hiring practices — days after Johnson boasted about the record number of African Americans he has hired for top city jobs.
The new lawsuit filed this week in federal district court in Chicago challenges conditions that the Justice Department imposed on a $6.25 million grant that the Johnson administration had hoped to use to recruit, hire and train 50 Chicago police officers to fill vacancies in the city’s community policing program. St. Paul, Minnesota, joined Chicago in asking the court to declare such grant conditions illegal.
To qualify for the grant, the Justice Department now requires Chicago and other cities to certify that they do not, and will not, use the federal money to support programs with elements linked to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts — which the Trump administration has characterized as discriminatory.
Grant recipients must also certify compliance with “all presidential executive orders and immigration-related conditions.” That condition appears to be aimed at undermining Chicago’s sanctuary city status, which does not allow the city’s police officers to help federal authorities enforce immigration law.
Those grant conditions were not authorized by Congress, which controls federal spending, the lawsuit states, and they violate separation of powers, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“Putting the safety of Chicagoans in jeopardy in pursuit of political ends is simply reprehensible,” Johnson stated in a news release about the lawsuit. “Chicago will not be intimidated into abandoning our values or compromising our safety. … Community policing is fundamental to building a safer city and upholding diversity is an essential part of who we are as a city.”
Since 2009, Chicago has used the $6.25 million COPS Program grant to bankroll the salaries of full-time officers who work close with community leaders to confront problems that create a breeding ground for violent crime — and to build between citizens and police the trust needed to solve crimes when they occur.
Last month, Chicago joined eight other cities in challenging Trump’s decision to use tens of millions of dollars in federal anti-terrorism and public safety grants as leverage in his battle against DEI programs.
That lawsuit was directed at conditions the Trump administration attached to U.S. Department of Homeland Security grants to help cities “train first responders, modernize emergency operations centers, build public alert systems and purchase hazmat suits” and other “lifesaving equipment” used by bomb squads, according to city officials.
Johnson responded to the federal investigation of Chicago’s hiring practices by demanding that the Justice Department investigate Trump’s hiring practices, claiming the president is “using his power to divide people.”
“As my administration reflects the country, it reflects the city. His administration reflects the country club,” Johnson told reporters at the time. “That is the biggest difference between what we’re doing in Chicago and what is coming from the federal government.”