Harmeet Dhillon Resigns as Head of DOJ Civil Rights Division
The first senior official to leave the administration after the midterms cites a plan to return to private practice after 18 months of sweeping changes.
By Bianca Herrera ·
Harmeet Dhillon has resigned as the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. She stepped down after 18 months in the role, during which she overhauled the unit's mission and managed the departure of many career staff.
Dhillon is the first senior official to leave the Trump administration following the midterm elections where Democrats regained control of the House and Senate. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the departure on X. He thanked her for her service and stated that she defended the civil liberties of every American. He added that the department is grateful for her public service and wishes her success in future endeavors.
In her own statement, Dhillon described the job as the honor of a lifetime. She said the team ushered in the downfall of illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. She also noted that they fought to protect women in girls' sports.
During her tenure, Dhillon implemented major structural changes. She pushed out roughly 300 career attorneys and replaced them with inexperienced ideological allies. The division shifted its focus to enforce Trump's executive orders. These orders targeted alleged radical indoctrination in schools, gender ideology extremism, and antisemitism. The division also sued dozens of states to obtain voter information, a move that courts largely tossed after election officials pushed back.
The Civil Rights Division was created about 70 years ago during the civil rights movement to end racial segregation. For decades, it protected constitutional rights in areas like housing, employment, education, and policing. Dhillon argued that the division had narrowed its mission to protect only the rights of people of color. She shifted the focus to conservative priorities. At a 2025 Federalist Society event, she said, We don't just slow down the woke. We take up the cause to achieve the executive branch's goals.
The division also accused universities and law schools of discriminating against white and Asian students. It sued UCLA and Harvard for allegedly allowing antisemitism to flourish on campus. Dhillon told staff in an email that she informed Trump in early October of her plan to return to private practice after the midterms. She said she was proud of what they accomplished to ensure civil rights laws protect every American.
Stacey Young, a former division attorney and current head of the group Justice Connection, welcomed the departure. Young called Dhillon the most destructive, lawless, and hateful head of the division in Justice Department history. She said Dhillon wielded the department's power to threaten universities and officials in cases that rarely won in court. Young added that Dhillon decimated a unit that had enforced civil rights laws for nearly 70 years.
