Justice Connection today issued the following statement on the resignation of Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon. The statement is attributable to executive director Stacey Young.

“Harmeet Dhillon has been the most destructive, lawless, and hateful head of the Civil Rights Division in DOJ history. 

“After she upended the division’s mission-critical work, the civil servants who dedicated their careers to protecting vulnerable communities were instead told to target them – and more than three-quarters of the division’s lawyers left. Dhillon wielded the enormous power of the Justice Department to threaten universities, state and local officials, and election workers in spurious cases that rarely won in court. 

“She ended pattern or practice investigations into police departments and consent decrees with cities like Minneapolis and Louisville, leaving communities less safe and their residents’ rights less protected. And she refused to open investigations into ICE-related shootings, even as deaths and injuries continued to rise.

“Americans’ civil rights don’t enforce themselves. For almost 70 years, the Civil Rights Division brought to fruition the civil rights laws that Americans demanded. Dhillon decimated it. 

“We call on the incoming Senate to exercise its full advice and consent powers to ensure the next Assistant Attorney General fulfills the division’s congressional mandate to enforce all Americans’ civil rights diligently and fairly.”