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Judicial Watch and the Daily Caller News Foundation File
Amended Lawsuit against Chicago Mayor Lightfoot for Discriminating against
White Journalists
Lawsuit Continues As Mayor Tells New York
Times
She “Would Absolutely Do It Again”
(Washington, DC) - Judicial Watch announced it filed an amended complaint in its 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.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division after Catenacci, a white
male, emailed Lightfoot’s office requesting a one-on-one interview with the
mayor and the office failed to reply to the request or Catenacci’s two
additional follow-up emails (Catenacci et al v. Lightfoot (No.
1:21-cv-02852)).
“Mayor Lightfoot discriminated against journalists based on their race,” said
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Judicial Watch has repeatedly requested
that Lightfoot sign a consent decree agreeing not to use race-based criteria
for interview requests for the remainder of her time in office. Not only did
her lawyers ignore these requests, in a recent interview, an unrepentant
Lightfoot told a New York Times writer,
‘I would absolutely do it again. I’m unapologetic about it because it spurred
a very important conversation, a conversation that needed to happen, that
should have happened a long time ago’” .
“I cannot believe that Mayor Lightfoot told the New York Times reporter
that she would absolutely discriminate against reporters again based on their
race,” said Thomas Catenacci. “If she isn’t stopped, what’s next?”
“A policy of granting interviews based on the color of a reporter's skin
isn't merely discriminatory, it undercuts the foundational principles of
freedom of the press,” said DCNF acting editor in chief Thomas Phippen. “That
Mayor Lightfoot is 'unapologetic' about her policy speaks volumes.”
In May, Lightfoot’s office informed multiple reporters that she would grant
one-on-one interviews, “only to Black or Brown journalists.” The
next day, the mayor released a letter doubling down on her
discriminatory policy.
The amended complaint explains:
On May 18, 2021, a Chicago reporter tweeted that Mayor
Lightfoot’s spokesperson informed her that the mayor “is granting 1 on 1
interviews – only to Black or Brown journalists.” Mayor Lightfoot
subsequently released a letter stating, “By now, you have heard the news that
on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of my inauguration as Mayor of
this great City, I will be exclusively providing one-on-one interviews with
journalists of color.” Neither Mayor Lightfoot nor her spokesperson suggested
that the mayor’s new, race-based interview policy was not permanent or
identified any time limit on how long the mayor intended to use race-based
criteria for granting interview requests.
Judicial Watch points out that Lightfoot’s communications director testified that the mayor used
race-based criteria for granting interview requests for two days, May 19 and
20, and did not grant any interview requests to White reporters. Moreover,
the mayor’s office has yet to respond to Catenacci’s request nor has the
mayor agreed to an interview with him.
Mayor Lightfoot’s response to the lawsuit is due by August 2, 2021.
Christine Svenson of Svenson Law Offices in Palatine, Illinois, is assisting
Judicial Watch with the lawsuit.
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