A top official in President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, civil rights advocate Harmeet Dhillon, is leaving the department and reportedly plans to return to private practice in California.
A report at Townhall explained the assistant attorney general for Civil Rights, “was a firebrand, always scanning for leftist overreach, as she’s done in numerous First Amendment cases before her ascension at the DOJ.”
⚠️ AG TODD BLANCHE CONFIRMS HARMEET DHILLONS DEPARTURE https://t.co/Z5iYm5wCHL
— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) November 5, 2026
Senior US Justice Department official Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Civil Rights Division and oversaw investigations into universities, voting and religious liberty, plans to resign imminently, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters https://t.co/ToGJV9W66w https://t.co/0e5bnqaDoR
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 5, 2026
The report said she is leaving “after President Donald Trump’s Republican Party lost the House and Senate in this week’s midterm elections.”
Among other issues, she has worked diligently on election integrity, working to investigate reports of noncitizens voting.
The report explained, “The staunch Trump ally leaves behind a Civil Rights Division that’s shifted toward conservative causes, including religious liberties and the formation of a Second Amendment section.”
Dozens of lawyers left when the ideology for the law pushed by Joe Biden fell out of favor. Dhillon recruited many new lawyers to address litigation over voter rolls, immigration, antisemitism and more.
A Fox report confirmed she said she was not asked to resign, but she felt she had accomplished what she intended.
In fact, Dhillon said she actually resigned several weeks ago but was asked by the White House to remain until after this week’s midterms.
Dhillon is expected to be one of the targets of the Democrats’ announced lawfare schemes against Trump administration officials.
She said a presidential pardon for her never has been requested, or discussed.
“And I have done nothing, in my opinion, that would require that, but, you know, that’s up to the president,” she said.
“My decision, my choice,” Dhillon said. “It’s time.”
The president nominated her in 2024 and she was installed in April 2025.
She defended investigations into those who vote illegally.
She has emphasized work on “DEI and race-conscious policies, religious discrimination, transgender participation in women’s sports, Second Amendment rights and election integrity,” the report said.
She previously founded the Dhillon Law Group and the Center for American Liberty and built a national profile litigating First Amendment, election law and other civil-rights cases, the report said.
