Harmeet K Dhillon, an Indian-American lawyer who led a major shift in the US Justice Department's civil rights enforcement priorities under President Donald Trump, has resigned from her position, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on Thursday.
Dhillon's departure comes two days after Democrats regained control of both chambers of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections. She is among the first senior officials to leave the administration following the Republican losses.
As head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, Dhillon oversaw changes to an agency traditionally responsible for enforcing voting rights protections and investigating racial discrimination. Under her leadership, the division redirected its attention towards challenging diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, examining alleged antisemitism on university campuses and pursuing cases involving gun rights. The shift triggered departures among career attorneys, several of whom left the division amid disagreements over its new direction. Dhillon had accused some of the lawyers of prioritising liberal causes and resisting the Trump administration's policies.
In her resignation letter, Dhillon highlighted the administration's efforts to challenge diversity programmes and school policies concerning transgender students as achievements during her tenure. She also claimed credit for changes to women's sports policies, as per Reuters. "We ushered in the downfall of illegal DEI, we fought to protect women and girls' sports, and so much more," she wrote on X while thanking Trump for appointing her.
Dhillon had informed the White House in October that she intended to step down, according to her resignation letter. She is expected to return to her law firm, The Dhillon Law Group, a spokesperson said. However, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that her decision was also influenced by frustration over being overlooked for promotions within the Justice Department. They said she wanted to return to private practice and rebuild her firm, which had recently lost several attorneys to other practices.
University probes and voter data disputes
She also led investigations involving several prominent American universities, with inquiries focusing on alleged antisemitism, diversity initiatives and policies concerning transgender people. The probe resulted in settlement agreements worth hundreds of millions of dollars with some institutions and contributed to the resignation of the University of Virginia's president. Harvard University, one of the administration's prominent targets, rejected a large settlement demand and repeatedly challenged the federal government in court.
The division also became involved in the administration's efforts to obtain voter information from states ahead of the midterm elections. The Trump administration argued that the measures were necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting, although independent reviews have found such voting to be exceedingly rare. The Justice Department lost several legal challenges seeking access to private voter records from states. It also deployed around 1,000 staff members to monitor polling locations during Tuesday's elections.
Cases involving Trump critics
Dhillon's tenure included cases involving individuals the Trump administration viewed as political opponents. The division pursued a high-profile criminal case against former CNN anchor Don Lemon and others accused of disrupting a church service in January during a protest against the administration's immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota. It also unsuccessfully sought criminal charges against Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who testified before Congress about Trump's conduct on January 6, 2021, when supporters of the then-president stormed the US Capitol.
