Mayor Brandon Johnson will publicly address a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice Monday looking into the City of Chicago's hiring practices.
Mayor Johnson will answer questions from the media at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
The Justice Department said it is specifically investigating the number of Black men and women who serve in Johnson's administration, which he spoke about at an event at a church in Woodlawn Sunday.
"The deputy mayor is a Black woman. The Department of Finance Development is a Black woman," Johnson told parishioners. "When you ask, how do we ensure that our people get a chance to grow their businesses, having people in my administration that will look out for the interest of everyone, and everyone means you have to look out for the interests of Black folks."
The DOJ cited that moment in a letter, saying if those hiring decisions are being made for top-level positions, "it begs the question whether such decisions are also being made for lower-level positions."
But experts say political appointments do not fall under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which is the statute cited by the Justice Department in their letter opening the investigation. Political appointments, experts said, would also not be covered by employment discrimination law.
"They would not be employees under Title VII, so even if it were true that he was going out of his way to hire people of a particular race, that would not violate the law," said Carolyn Shapiro, professor law at University of Chicago Kent College of Law.
Johnson's team sent CBS News Chicago a breakdown of the racial makeup of his 105 member staff. According to his office, 34% of employees are Black, 30% are white, 23% are Hispanic, 7% are Asian and 5% are two or more ethnicities.
Sara Tenenbaum
Sara Tenenbaum is the Senior Digital Producer for CBS News Chicago covering breaking, local and community news in Chicago. She previously worked as a digital producer and senior digital producer for ABC7 Chicago.