Harmeet Dhillon, controversial head of DoJ’s civil rights division, resigns | 2026 US midterm elections

Harmeet Dhillon, a Donald Trump ally who headed the Justice Department’s civil rights division, is leaving her post.

“Today, I accepted the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Civil Rights Division with conviction over the past 18 months. She defended the civil liberties of all Americans 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,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an article on X.

Dhillon is the first senior Justice Department official to resign after the midterm elections in which Democrats took control of Congress. Democrats should use this power to aggressively investigate executive agencies, including the Justice Department. Dhillon’s departure was first reported by Bloomberg Law.

Dhillon radically transformed the Civil Rights Division in just over a year and a half, reorienting its mission away from the work it traditionally did to protect the civil rights of minorities. Under his leadership, the department dropped numerous cases alleging discrimination against racial minorities in voting, housing, employment and education. Many career lawyers also left the division under his leadership, leading to an exodus of expertise in the civil rights field.

Dhillon actively pursued allegations of discrimination at universities, including claims that minorities were unfairly favored in admissions and allegations of anti-Semitism against Jewish students. A whistleblower said investigations into the schools were carried out with a predetermined outcome and lawyers were told to find a reason to take legal action.

The Civil Rights Division also oversaw investigations into the killings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal agents in Minnesota during an immigration raid — neither resulted in criminal charges.

The division also experienced some high-profile failures under Dhillon’s leadership. He sued more than two dozen states for voter registration information and lost every case. Several of the judges who ruled against the department were appointed by Donald Trump,

“Harmeet Dhillon was the most destructive, lawless and hateful head of the Civil Rights Division in the history of the Justice Department,” said Stacey Young, a former Civil Rights Division attorney who now leads the Justice Connection, a Justice Department alumni group.

She added: “After upending the division’s critical work, officials who devoted their careers to protecting vulnerable communities were instead asked to target them — and more than three-quarters of the division’s lawyers left. Dhillon used the Justice Department’s enormous power to threaten universities, state and local officials, and election workers in bogus cases that rarely won in court.”

A prolific poster on She also publicly insulted people with disabilities, whose civil rights her division is responsible for protecting. She also described conservative influencers as “whores.”

Dhillon grew up in Smithfield, North Carolina, after being born in India and then living in the United Kingdom and New York. “There were Klan signs on the highway where I grew up. I’m used to being an outsider. My superpower doesn’t really care what people think of me,” she told the Dartmouth alumni magazine last year.

Before joining government, Dhillon ran her own law firm and served as vice chair of the California GOP. After the 2020 election, she worked on lawsuits challenging the election results.