Judicial Watch: Federal Court Orders Hearing in Lawsuit against Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Racist Interview Policy

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that a federal court ordered a hearing for Friday August 20, 2021, regarding Judicial Watch’s request to take discovery about the scope and duration of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s discriminatory interview policy. 

The hearing is before U.S. District Court Judge John Z. Lee in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

Date:                Friday, August 20, 2021

Time:               10:30 a.m. ET, 9:30 a.m. CT 

Judicial Watch filed a motion for limited jurisdictional discovery after Mayor Lightfoot’s office once again changed its explanation about when and how she would only grant interviews to “journalists of color.” Only after Judicial Watch filed its lawsuit and the mayor had to defend her actions in court did the public learn that the racially biased criteria only applied to a “press tour.”

On May 27, 2021, Judicial Watch filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the Daily Caller News Foundation and reporter Thomas Catenacci against Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for violating their First Amendment Rights and Catenacci’s right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment (Catenacci et al v. Lightfoot (No. 1:21-cv-02852)). 

Catenacci, a white male, emailed Mayor Lightfoot’s office requesting a one-on-one interview with the mayor. The office never replied to the request or to multiple follow up emails from Catenacci. 

The lawsuit argues that Lightfoot purposefully discriminated against Catenacci “because of his race by stating that she would only grant interview requests from ‘journalists of color….’”

Christine Svenson of Svenson Law Offices in Palatine, Illinois, is assisting Judicial Watch with the lawsuit. 

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