Division scrapped police reform settlements and probed universities under Dhillon
Harmeet Dhillon exits the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division after more than three quarters of the workforce present at the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term have left the unit — an exodus she has called the “biggest single personnel self-purge in DOJ history.”
Dhillon defended her record and accused the past administration of pursuing a misguided liberal agenda. In an interview last year with conservative pundit Glenn Beck, she said, “the job here is to enforce the federal civil rights laws — not woke ideology.” She welcomed the departures of attorneys not aligned with the Trump administration’s priorities.
Former Justice Department attorneys have accused Dhillon of abandoning the division’s traditional civil rights enforcement mission in favor of conservative causes. Stacey Young, a former Civil Rights Division attorney who now leads a network of Justice Department alumni, called her “the most destructive, lawless and hateful” head of the division in department history.
“Americans’ civil rights don’t enforce themselves. For almost 70 years, the Civil Rights Division brought to fruition the civil rights laws that Americans demanded,” Young said in an emailed statement Thursday. “Dhillon decimated it.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the resignation Thursday in a social media post, writing that Dhillon led the division with “conviction” and “defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor.” “The Department is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors,” Blanche wrote. Dhillon did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Thursday.
The Civil Rights Division was created during the country’s Civil Rights Movement to protect the rights of minorities. Dhillon, confirmed last year as assistant attorney general, changed the direction of the unit during President Donald Trump’s second term.
During her tenure, the division scrapped police reform settlements and investigations and launched probes into universities the Trump administration saw as improperly prioritizing diversity and inclusion, discriminating against white applicants in the admissions process and failing to crack down on antisemitic conduct on campus.
Her pressure campaign against schools produced numerous settlements and, in one case, the resignation of the president of the University of Virginia. Dhillon also led an effort to pressure states to turn over detailed voter records despite repeated court losses.
Dhillon maintained a constant presence on social media, repeatedly taking tips on X about alleged civil rights abuses that she would then publicly pledge to investigate.
Dhillon, a Sikh who was born in India and immigrated to the United States as a child, was a prominent figure in conservative legal and political circles before her Justice Department appointment. She launched a bid to become chair of the Republican National Committee but lost in January 2023 to Ronna McDaniel in a race that exposed fierce internal divisions in the party.
Dhillon and her law firm also represented Trump when a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol issued a subpoena for his testimony. The panel ultimately abandoned that effort and wrapped up its work without forcing the issue, prompting Dhillon to declare on the social media platform X that the committee had “waved the white flag.”