The lawsuit accusing the Chicago Police Department of targeting Black and Latino drivers with a massive campaign of traffic stops should be expanded to include all Black and Latino Chicagoans who have ever been pulled over — or could be in the future, lawyers asked a federal judge in court records filed Tuesday.
Two years ago, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois sued the city on behalf of five Black and Latino Chicagoans who had been repeatedly stopped while driving — both before and after they filed suit, calling it the latest chapter in the department’s “long and sordid history” of racist discrimination.
If U.S. District Court Judge Mary Rowland agrees to certify the lawsuit as a class action, it will sharply raise the stakes in the case and increase the pressure on city officials to reach a settlement to reduce the costs to taxpayers…