The Liberty Justice Center is pressing ahead in its legal challenge to a contract that imposes explicit race-based and sex-based quotas on an upcoming Chicago casino project—in blatant violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
On February 7, after the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, failed to provide relief to the challengers, the Liberty Justice Center announced that it filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), urging the agency to withhold its approval from the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the Bally’s Chicago Operating Company’s casino project because the sale discriminates against potential investors based on their race and sex. Because the SEC has not yet declared Bally’s S-1 IPO filing effective, the racial and sexual quotas embedded within the IPO may require the agency to halt distribution of the shares while litigation continues and the Liberty Justice Center holds the city accountable for its discrimination in court.
On January 30, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit against the city of Chicago and multiple public officials, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, to challenge a Host Community Agreement (HCA) between the city of Chicago and Bally’s Chicago Operating Company. Among other “minority preferences” mandated by Chicago’s government as a condition to approving the casino project, the HCA includes a 25% minority ownership requirement. To meet this requirement, Bally’s registered an IPO of 10,000 shares that are only available to persons who meet the city of Chicago’s approved definition of “minority.”
Explicitly due to these sexual and racial quotas, Bally’s prohibited would-be investor Mark Glennon from participating in its upcoming IPO. The Liberty Justice Center sued on his behalf to hold the city of Chicago accountable for forcing Bally’s to discriminate against potential investors due to their sex and race.
Immediately after suing to challenge the racial and sexual quotas imposed on the sale of the casino’s shares, the Liberty Justice Center also filed an emergency motion asking the court to grant a temporary restraining order to halt the discriminatory sale before it took place on February 7. In the late evening on February 6, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, issued a ruling denying the requested relief. While this ruling dismisses the motion for relief, it does not affect any other element of the case, which will continue through the courts as before.
“The court’s dismissal of our request for emergency relief does not change our case—the reality is that the city of Chicago and Bally’s Casino jointly agreed to a racially and sexually discriminatory contract that violates investors’ statutory and constitutional rights. That cannot stand. We will press ahead in court to vindicate our client’s rights and hold Chicago’s government accountable for this unacceptable contract,” said Reilly Stephens, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center.
Glennon v. Johnson was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on January 30, 2025.
The Liberty Justice Center’s legal filings in Glennon v. Johnson are available here.