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Harmeet Dhillon Resigns as Head of Justice Department's Civil Rights Division
Confirmed
In Short: Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, resigned on Thursday, according to Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, resigned on Thursday, as announced by Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Dhillon, a close ally of President Donald Trump, had been in the position for 18 months and was known for her aggressive enforcement of what she termed election integrity.
In a statement, Dhillon said, 'Serving my country as AAG for Civil Rights has been the honor of a lifetime,' highlighting her tenure's focus on prosecuting noncitizens who unlawfully voted in prior elections.
Blanche thanked Dhillon for her service, noting that she had 'defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor.'
According to Fox News, Dhillon informed White House chief of staff Susie Wiles weeks before the election that she had 'accomplished everything' she came to Washington to do and was ready to return to private practice.
During her tenure, Dhillon implemented significant changes in the Civil Rights Division, including the pushout of roughly 300 career attorneys and the hiring of inexperienced ideological allies.
The division also saw an unprecedented exodus of career attorneys, with an estimated 75% departing as of earlier this year, according to staffing numbers provided to Congress.
Dhillon's actions drew criticism from civil rights groups, who accused her of wielding the Justice Department's power to threaten universities, state and local officials, and election workers in spurious cases.
The department plans to send about 1,000 personnel across the country to monitor elections, marking the first nationwide operation of its kind and the largest election-monitoring effort in the department’s history.
Dhillon's resignation comes amid major Republican defeats in the House and Senate and expected shake-ups in personnel at the top levels of the Trump administration.
What this adds
Dhillon's resignation was reportedly planned weeks before the election, and she was asked by the White House to delay her departure until after the election.
The department's election monitoring program, once a nonpartisan effort, has drawn criticism for its conduct during the 2026 midterm primaries.
Background
Dolores Huerta, a pioneering labor leader and civil rights activist, died Wednesday at the age of 96, her family announced.
What's confirmed
- “Serving my country as AAG for Civil Rights has been the honor of a lifetime,” Dhillon said on Thursday.
- “Today, I accepted the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Civil Rights Division with conviction the past 18 months,” he said.
- Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed her resignation in a social media post, saying "[t]he Department is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors." Her resignation follows major Republican defeats in the House and Senate and amid expected shake ups in personnel at the top levels of the Trump administration.
- The Justice Department is deploying approximately 1,000 election monitors and observers across all 50 states Tuesday, marking the first nationwide operation of its kind and the largest election-monitoring effort in the department’s history.
- “Election integrity has been one of the top priorities for this Administration and this Division,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K.
- “I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner.” This operation would be led by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and would be one of the largest in the department’s history.
What's still developing
- “This unprecedented deployment of federal officials stands to jeopardize the election and interfere with the right of voters to participate in the election free from intimidation,” the NAACP wrote.
- Originally, the executive branch’s election observation program was a crucial component of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA).
- The department will also monitor compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure voters with disabilities have equal access to the ballot.
- Dhillon also played a leading role in the administration's investigations into several prominent US universities.
- Before joining Trump's second administration, Dhillon worked as one of Trump's personal attorneys and aided his failed legal efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden and represented Trump against the House Jan. 6 committee.
- Dhillon said her challenge to McDaniel was fueled by three main concerns, including "an inexplicable failure" by RNC leadership to take advantage of mail-in and early voting to the full extent that it's allowed -- even as Trump and some other Republicans told voters to embrace in-person ballots.