America First Legal has filed a civil rights complaint against the City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department, accusing the department of running a race-conscious system for recruitment, hiring, promotion and enforcement. The group is asking the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to dig into whether racial considerations are being used, openly or behind the scenes, in CPD personnel decisions. The move drops straight into the middle of a national fight over how far municipal equity programs can go before they clash with federal anti-discrimination laws.
The complaint, obtained by Fox News, quotes America First Legal counsel Alice Kass accusing the city of “disguising its discriminatory actions under the pretext of ‘racial equity,’” and asserting that “race is a central consideration in recruitment, hiring, promotion, and retention decisions.” The filing cites documents from the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice, along with internal CPD materials, as the backbone of those claims.
What CPD's racial-equity plan says
The Chicago Police Department’s Racial Equity Action Plan states that the agency aims to “improve equitable outcomes, reduce racial disparities, and achieve racial equity and inclusion,” and it spells out workforce objectives like reviewing hiring processes for equity and building a force that reflects the city’s demographics. As outlined by the Chicago Police Department, the REAP is a three-year initiative (2024–2026) that maps out recruitment, retention, and training strategies the department says are intended to reduce disparities.
The legal argument
America First Legal contends that those equity goals amount to unlawful race-conscious decision-making and has asked the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to determine whether the city has run afoul of federal civil-rights laws, according to Fox News. Title VI prohibits race discrimination in programs that receive federal financial assistance and can trigger agency or DOJ enforcement, while Title VII bars race-based employment decisions and is enforced through the EEOC and the courts. See the Justice Department for an overview of how Title VI works and the EEOC for an explanation of Title VII’s employment protections.
Where this fits into Chicago politics
The complaint arrives as City Hall is already tangling with Washington over diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and federal cash. Mayor Brandon Johnson sued the Justice Department in mid-November over new grant conditions tied to DEI and certification requirements, a clash reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. America First Legal’s filing also leans on the section of the municipal code that created the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice and mandated departmental Racial Equity Action Plans, citing language in city law at §2-4-100 as the legal foundation for CPD’s policies. That framework is central to the group’s claim that equity initiatives are steering personnel decisions inside the department.
What happens next
If the Justice Department takes up the complaint, Title VI procedures allow federal agencies and DOJ to investigate, push for voluntary corrective steps, or in some cases pursue enforcement that can include cutting off federal funds, according to the department’s guidance. How fast DOJ moves will hinge on its workload and whether other complainants or stakeholders press for a full-scale investigation.
