Chicago Mayor’s Hiring Practices Probed by Justice Department

The US Department of Justice said it will investigate whether Chicago is discriminating against municipal job candidates by race after Mayor Brandon Johnson highlighted the number of Black officials in his administration while addressing a church on the city’s south side.

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general that oversees the department’s civil rights division, posted a letter on social media Monday citing comments the mayor made Sunday at the Apostolic Church of God in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood.

The investigation is “based on information suggesting that you have made hiring decisions solely on the basis of race,” Dhillon, who ...