Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon is stepping down as head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. She said she decided to leave weeks before Republicans’ losses in the midterm elections, and that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles asked her to wait until after the vote.
“I wasn’t asked to resign,” Dhillon said. “I resigned three weeks ago, and Susie asked me to please wait until after the midterms.” She formally submitted her resignation on November 5.
Dhillon said she told Wiles before Election Day that she felt she had accomplished what she came to Washington to do and wanted to return to private practice.
Asked whether she would testify before Congress if subpoenaed after leaving the administration, Dhillon said executive privilege could limit what she could discuss. She would seek legal advice and follow it, she said.
She also said she had not discussed the possibility of a pardon with President Donald Trump and had never asked him for one. In her view, she had done nothing that would require a pardon, though the decision would be the president’s.
Dhillon said her choice came down to wanting to return to private-sector work, which had made up much of her career. After her husband and father died, she moved to Washington to serve the country. Now, after about two years in the administration, she said, “It’s time.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche said he had accepted Dhillon’s resignation. He praised her for defending Americans’ civil liberties and enforcing the law, and thanked her for her service.
President Trump nominated Dhillon in December 2024. The Senate confirmed her, and she took office in April 2025. She is leaving after Republicans lost control of both the House and Senate in the midterm elections.
In the weeks before the election, Dhillon defended the administration’s investigation into noncitizen voting. She argued that the number of noncitizens who vote is very small and questioned why the issue would be raised to undermine confidence in the election system.
Her departure follows a roughly 19-month tenure marked by a broad shift in the Civil Rights Division’s priorities. The division focused more on issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion policies, race-conscious programs, religious discrimination, transgender participation in women’s sports, Second Amendment rights and election integrity.
The changes coincided with significant staff departures. Reports have said roughly 300 attorneys left the division during Trump’s second term. Dhillon said she worked to rebuild its ranks and recruited more than 130 lawyers.
Before joining the administration, Dhillon founded the Dhillon Law Group and the Center for American Liberty. She became nationally known through cases involving the First Amendment, election law and civil rights. A longtime Republican official and Trump ally, she faced strong opposition from Democrats and some established civil rights groups when nominated. Conservatives, meanwhile, said the division needed a new direction.
“We changed it, and that’s what we came here to do. And it’s done,” Dhillon said.
