Overview
- The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois challenging terms on a COPS hiring grant.
- The contested conditions require cities to certify they do not operate DEI programs with the funds and that they comply with all presidential executive orders and immigration-related requirements.
- Chicago argues the Justice Department’s added terms violate separation of powers, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause.
- City officials say the $6.25 million award was intended to recruit, hire and train roughly 50 community policing officers and that the funding is now at risk because of the new terms.
- Chicago and St. Paul ask the court to declare the conditions unlawful, restrain enforcement and vacate them, with the case pending and no ruling reported.