Conservative activist, election skeptic is now chief US civil rights enforcer
Harmeet Dhillon, the San Francisco lawyer and conservative activist who is now the nation’s chief civil rights enforcer, is a frightening choice for the job, says Sen. Alex Padilla.
“You’ve opposed key voting rights protections over the years,” the California Democrat told her during her recent Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. Others cited her championing of efforts to overturn transgender rights and challenging the 2020 presidential election results.
Republicans wholeheartedly supported her. At the confirmation hearing, Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told her, “You’re one of the nation’s foremost experts on civil rights.”
The Senate confirmed Dhillon for the job Thursday, 52 to 45. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and all Democrats voting, including Padilla and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., opposed the choice. All Republicans voted for Dhillon.
The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department was created in 1957, as the civil rights movement gained momentum. Its mission, says its website, is to enforce federal laws “prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status, military status and national origin.”
Padilla vs. Dhillon
Padilla was California’s secretary of state from 2015 to 2021, in charge of overseeing the state’s elections. Dhillon has been a California Republican national committeewoman and was a legal adviser to the 2020 Trump campaign.
“As a fellow Californian, I’ve seen your work closely,” the senator told Dhillon at her confirmation hearing. “You fought against the use of (the) Voting Rights Act to challenge discriminatory laws. You’ve also spread disinformation about the 2020 election, and you’ve defended restrictive voting laws in multiple states.”
“How can you convince us that, based on this track record, that you would equally enforce, fairly enforce, voting rights through the Department of Justice?” he asked.
Dhillon insisted she’ll be fair and enforce the law.
“If confirmed,” Dhillon said, “I will safeguard Americans’ right to vote.”
In a series of written questions, Padilla pressed harder.
He asked what steps she would take to make sure election administration is fair and nonpartisan.
“If confirmed,” Dhillon said, “I will enforce the civil rights laws in accordance with the relevant facts and law to protect the civil rights of all Americans.”
Dhillon and the 2020 election
Padilla told her that “disinformation about the 2020 election, which you helped spread, fueled a surge in harassment and threats of violence against election workers,” so, he asked, did President Joe Biden win the election?
“Former President Joseph Biden was sworn in as our 46th President on January 20, 2021,” Dhillon said.
In addition to enforcing violations of voting rights laws, the Civil Rights Division is responsible for prosecuting violations of anti-discrimination laws. It’s long been a key player in those efforts.
So, Padilla asked Dhillon, “Do you believe that systemic racial discrimination is a problem in America?”
Dhillon, a native of India who came to this country as a child, said “Racial discrimination continues to occur, although great progress has been made in this regard.”
All in all, she said, “The mission of the Civil Rights Division is to protect the civil rights of all Americans.”
Schiff asked Dhillon about the Trump administration’s suggestions that it will prosecute those who used diversity, equity and inclusion laws to discriminate, presumably against white people. Schiff asked what that would mean.
“As I am not currently at the department, I cannot speak to how the department defines the terms referenced in your question,” Dhillon said.
Republicans like Dhillon
Republicans painted a very different picture of Dhillon and her potential mission.
“Under the name of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” the Biden administration imposed a nationwide regime of discrimination, and the Civil Rights Division completely failed to enforce our nation’s laws, Grassley said.
Trump, he said, “has put an end to this and, if confirmed, I trust that you’ll work to help him execute on his promise.”
Grassley told Dhillon “You’ve fought for everyone to be treated equally.”
Who is she?
Dhillon, 56, is a native of India. Her family moved to the United States and at 16 she entered Dartmouth College. She got her undergraduate degree there and later earned her law degree from the University of Virginia.
She was an associate and counsel at international law firms in New York, London, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco before founding the Dhillon Law Group in 2006.
Dhillon was on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California from 2002 to 2005 but more recently has become prominent in her legal challenges to transgender rights and championing conservative causes.
“While we appreciate her support of civil rights and liberties during that time (on the ACLU board), we have strong concerns about the evolution of her positions and her recent record,” said an ACLU statement in February.
She filed several suits in California during the Covid pandemic opposing the state’s stay-at-home order. She filed lawsuits in other states challenging other Covid-inspired restrictions.
Dhillon was a legal adviser to the Trump campaign in 2020 as it challenged election results. Three years later, she sought the Republican Party chairmanship, losing to Ronna McDaniel.
Conservatives continue to give her strong support.
Dhillon “has been a trailblazer in advocating for individual liberties, free speech, and civil rights,” Parmis Khatibi, President of the California Women’s Leadership Association, told the judiciary committee.
But while Dhillon became a conservative favorite, she was reviled by her opponents.
“Throughout her career, Ms. Dhillon has threatened the very civil rights of many communities who the Civil Rights Division was created to defend,” said a statement from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
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