Harmeet Dhillon Resigns as Head of DOJ Civil Rights Division After Midterms

Harmeet Dhillon resigned as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday, becoming the first senior official to leave the Trump administration after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress.

Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed the resignation on social media, stating that Dhillon led the division with conviction for 18 months. Dhillon posted that the office ushered in the downfall of illegal DEI initiatives and fought to protect women's and girls' sports. She will return to the Dhillon Law Group. She told the White House in October that she planned to resign but stayed through the election at the request of Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

Dhillon reshaped the division's priorities away from traditional enforcement of voting rights and racial discrimination laws toward administration goals that included challenges to university policies, efforts to obtain state voter rolls, and cases on gun rights and transgender issues in schools. An estimated 75 percent of career attorneys left during her tenure. She recruited conservative lawyers to fill vacancies.

Her final major action included deploying roughly 1,000 election monitors to polling sites in all 50 states. Critics, including former Civil Rights Division head Kristen Clarke, said the office abandoned its historical mission. Supporters credited her with advancing the administration's agenda. The departure occurs as Democrats prepare to investigate executive agencies with their new majorities. Dhillon's exit is the first of expected personnel changes after the midterm results.