Key facts
- Harmeet Dhillon plans to resign imminently from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
- The report did not give a reason for the planned resignation or name a successor.
- Democrats took control of Congress in midterm elections and are expected to investigate executive agencies including the Justice Department.
- A whistleblower said university investigations were conducted with a predetermined outcome and lawyers were told to find a reason to file a lawsuit.
- The division sued more than two dozen states for voter roll information and lost every case, according to the report.
- Stacey Young, a former civil rights division lawyer, called Dhillon the most destructive head of the division in Justice Department history.
Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, plans to resign imminently, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on November 5, 2026. The report did not give a reason for the planned departure and no successor was named.
Dhillon, a Donald Trump ally, is the first high-ranking Justice Department official reported to leave after midterm elections in which Democrats took control of Congress. Democrats are expected to use that power to aggressively investigate executive agencies, including the Justice Department. Bloomberg Law first reported her departure, according to the report.
During a little over a year and a half in the role, Dhillon reoriented the division's mission away from traditional minority civil rights work. The department dropped many cases alleging discrimination against racial minorities in voting, housing, employment and education, and scores of career lawyers left the division, according to the report. She aggressively pursued claims of discrimination at universities, including claims that minorities were unfairly favored in admissions and claims of antisemitism against Jewish students. A whistleblower said investigations into the schools were conducted with a predetermined outcome and that lawyers were told to find a reason to file a lawsuit.
The division also oversaw investigations into the killing of US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal agents in Minnesota during an immigration enforcement surge; neither has resulted in criminal charges. It sued more than two dozen states for voter roll information and lost every case, with several rulings issued by judges appointed by Donald Trump, according to the report.
"Harmeet Dhillon has been the most destructive, lawless and hateful head of the civil rights division in DoJ history," said Stacey Young, a former civil rights division lawyer who now leads the group Justice Connection. Young added that more than three-quarters of the division's lawyers left and that Dhillon used the department's power to threaten universities, state and local officials and election workers in cases that rarely won in court.