Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell argued during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News that reparations for slavery would be “unconstitutional” due to a lack of “direct harm.”

Fox News host Harris Faulkner aired a clip of Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California discussing her May 2023 proposal for a “United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation” ahead of the Democratic National Convention. Terrell contended that reparations would be based on “skin color” and that such a policy would contradict the Constitution.

“I want to be clear as possible with 35 years of practicing law. Federal reparations is impossible, unconstitutional. Why? There’s no causation,” Terrell told Faulkner. “You can’t give out taxpayer federal government money based on skin color. No American today is responsible for the sins of slavery. No American today can show harm, direct harm, from the sins of slavery. You will see Kamala Harris talk about reparations to black audiences. She is in New Hampshire today, Harris. She won’t talk about reparations. She won’t talk about reparations and battleground states because it divides the country, and it is unconstitutional and racist.”

During her 2020 campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, Vice President Kamala Harris expressed support for reparations.

“We have to be honest that people in this country do not start from the same place or have access to the same opportunities,” Harris told The New York Times in February 2019. “I’m serious about taking an approach that would change policies and structures and make real investments in black communities.”

“You have to have a legal claim. Who is the boogeyman? Who is directly responsible?” Terrell said. “Show me the receipts of evidence that you can establish that, because of slavery, because of the depression, you were directly harmed. We have black millionaires, black movie stars, black actors — it makes no sense, Harris.”