Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon on Thursday left her position as the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division following massive Democratic victories in Tuesday’s midterm election.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Ms. Dhillon’s departure, saying she led the Civil Rights Division with conviction the past 18 months.”
“She has defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor,” Mr. Blanche said. “The Department is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors.”
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Ms. Dhillon told Fox News Digital that she intended to step away last month, but White House chief of staff Susie Wiles instead asked her to stay on until after Tuesday’s election.
“I wasn’t asked to resign,” Ms. Dhillon told the outlet. “I resigned three weeks ago, and Susie asked me to please wait until after the midterms.”
The outgoing Civil Rights Division chief said she wanted to go back to her private practice because she felt she had “accomplished everything” she set out to do in the nation’s capital.
Ms. Dhillon, a longtime ally of President Trump, was confirmed by the Senate in April 2025. She shifted the Civil Rights Division’s focus to purging old voter rolls, denaturalizing U.S. citizens with criminal records and launching investigations into antisemitism on college campuses.
The now-former assistant attorney general also prioritized protecting religious liberty and Second Amendment rights, while closing several cases looking into discrimination against Black Americans.
Ms. Dhillon’s division also canceled pending consent decrees with police departments in Louisville and Minneapolis that were related to the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
She further oversaw high turnover in her division, with 75% of career attorneys leaving federal service once she took charge. Lawyers with conservative advocacy backgrounds were hired to fill in those positions.More political appointees could leave the administration before the end of the year, Bloomberg News reported.
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