DOJ Civil Rights Chief Harmeet Dhillon Is Resigning, Reports Say

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, is leaving her post, according to Fox News, Reuters and Bloomberg Law, each citing people familiar with the matter on Thursday.

Fox News reported that Dhillon resigned Thursday. Reuters said two people familiar with the matter described her departure as imminent, and Bloomberg Law reported, citing four people, that she had told allies she would leave after the midterm elections, with an official announcement expected as soon as Thursday.

Dhillon and Justice Department spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Bloomberg Law said.

One of the first exits after the GOP losses

Reuters described Dhillon as one of the first high-ranking departures from President Donald Trump’s administration since Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which Democrats took control of both the House and the Senate.

Trump nominated Dhillon in December 2024. She was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in by Attorney General Pam Bondi in April 2025, according to Fox News and the Justice Department.

A reshaped Civil Rights Division

Under Dhillon, the division shifted its focus from discrimination against racial minorities and investigations of local police toward administration priorities such as gun rights and antisemitism on college campuses, Reuters reported. She played a leading role in the administration’s investigations of elite universities.

Bloomberg Law reported that the division created a Second Amendment section and that, after many career attorneys left, Dhillon recruited dozens of new lawyers to work on litigation over state voter rolls, immigration and alleged campus antisemitism. Before the midterms she also defended the administration’s investigation into noncitizen voting, Fox News reported.

Developing: The Justice Department had not publicly confirmed the resignation or named a successor as of Thursday afternoon Eastern time.

Sources: Fox News, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, U.S. Department of Justice