The next attorney general could be an anti-civil rights warrior

The next attorney general could be an anti-civil rights warrior
Harmeet Dhillon has worked to implement Trump's agenda at the Justice Department

By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published April 12, 2026 6:30AM (EDT)


(Salon) The destruction of the Justice Department is one of the biggest stories of the second Trump administration. But coming as it does amid chaos on the world stage, violence on the streets of America’s cities and a news cycle moving at warp-speed, the department’s demise feels as though it’s happening in slow motion. But if, as the old saying goes, “personnel is policy,” then the policies of this DOJ are about as extreme and corrupt as it gets.

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There are others, though, whose own zeal and blind ambition are obvious. Among those is Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, and is rumored to be in line for a promotion to one of the department’s top jobs.

Unlike Blanche, Dhillon is a media-savvy operator with deep roots in Republican politics, and her bomb-throwing style, which she frequently highlights on social media, has made her a favorite of MAGA media and Trump’s base. While Blanche was toiling in the Justice Department as a prosecutor for many years before he went into private practice and joined Team Trump by serving as the president’s personal lawyer, Dhillon has been a political player since she was in college, when she began making her name as a conservative activist.

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Naming Dhillon to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division was a perfect middle finger to the liberal constituencies of the Democratic Party. Charged with protecting the civil rights of all Americans, but especially those protected classes outlined in the Civil Rights Act, she immediately set out to turn federal policies that have been in place for decades inside out. No longer would the department be concerned with violations of civil rights against minorities and women. Today the department is obsessed with supposed discrimination against white males and protecting the police against charges of misconduct. .......................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/04/12/the-next-attorney-general-could-be-an-anti-civil-rights-warrior/