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Harmeet Dhillon | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Dhillon in 2021 | |
| United States Assistant Attorney General for theCivil Rights Division | |
| Assumed office April 7, 2025 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Mac Warner (acting) |
| Republican National Committeewoman fromCalifornia | |
| In office July 19, 2016 – April 7, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Linda Ackerman |
| Succeeded by | TBD |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Harmeet Kaur Dhillon 1969 (age 55–56) Chandigarh, India |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Education | Dartmouth College (BA) University of Virginia (JD) |
| Website | Official website |
Harmeet Kaur Dhillon (born 1969) is an American lawyer andRepublican Party official serving as theUnited States assistant attorney general for thecivil rights division since 2025. She is the former vice chair of theCalifornia Republican Party, and the former National Committeewoman of theRepublican National Committee for California.[1][2] She is the founder of a law practice called Dhillon Law Group Inc.[3] In 2018, she helped launch the501(c)(3) nonprofit Center for American Liberty, which does legal work related to civil liberties.[4] She is a regular guest onFox News.[5]
During thecoronavirus pandemic, she filed numerous unsuccessful lawsuits to halt the implementation ofstay-at-home-orders and other restrictions. She criticizedface masks requirements, called for the re-opening of the economy, and opposedmail in voting.[5][6][7]
Inthe January 2023 election, Dhillon unsuccessfully challenged incumbentRonna McDaniel as chair of theRepublican National Committee. In December 2024,Donald Trump nominated Dhillon to serve as the assistant attorney general for civil rights.[8]
Dhillon was born inChandigarh, India to aPunjabiSikh family in 1969.[9] Her family moved to London before eventually settling in the United States[10] so her father, Tejpal Singh Dhillon could pursue a career as anorthopedic surgeon. Dhillon attended elementary school inThe Bronx, New York[10] before moving toSmithfield, North Carolina.[11]
She attended theNorth Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, graduating at age 16. After finishing high school at age 16, she attendedDartmouth College. She became a writer and eventually editor-in-chief atThe Dartmouth Review.[10]
During her tenure atThe Review, a satirical column criticizing the school's President and the policies of his administration generated controversy. In the column, Dartmouth College PresidentJames O. Freedman, who was Jewish, was likened toAdolf Hitler due to the alleged discriminatory policies of his administration against conservatives. These policies were referred to by the column as a "holocaust" and the "Final Solution to the Conservative Problem". The column also characterized conservatives at Dartmouth as being "deported in cattle cars in the night".[12]
Dhillon claimed that the column sought to draw parallels between so-called "liberal fascism" andfascism. She stated that there was no intention to minimize the horrors of the Holocaust, rather the column sought to demonstrate the mistreatment that conservative students faced under President Freedman's administration.[12]
After graduating from Dartmouth, she attended theUniversity of Virginia School of Law where she was on the editorial board of theVirginia Law Review. Following law school, she clerked for JudgePaul V. Niemeyer of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1993 to 1994.[9][13] For the next ten years, Dhillon became an associate at a number of law firms before becoming a managing partner at Dhillon Law Group in 2004.
Dhillon filed a lawsuit in April 2017 againstUniversity of California, Berkeley on behalf of the Berkeley College Republicans (BCR) andYoung America's Foundation forfreedom of speech issues, particularly the school cancellingAnn Coulter's speech quoting security reasons.[14]The suit was settled in December 2018, with Dhillon arguing that it had forced the university to change its policies about controversial speakers, whereas the university maintained that it had already been following the amended policies before.[14]
In August 2017,James Damore, a former Google employee, hired Dhillon to be his lawyer againstGoogle. Dhillon's firm has said it is also willing to represent more employees from Google who have similar stories to Damore,[15] though Dhillon has already lost an appeal to theNational Labor Relations Board.[16] Damore's lawsuit against Google also was dismissed pursuant to a mandatory arbitration clause; however, the case continues without him.[17][18]
Conservative social media activist and journalistAndy Ngo retained Dhillon as his attorney after being assaulted on the street inPortland, Oregon, in June 2019.[19] In June 2020, Dhillon filed suit on behalf of Ngo againstantifa seeking $900,000 in damages for assault and emotional distress, and an injunction to prevent further harassment. The lawsuit citesRose City Antifa, five other named defendants, and additional unknown assailants. It stems from multiple alleged attacks on Ngo in Portland during 2019, and accuses Rose City Antifa in particular of a "pattern of racketeering activities".[20]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Dhillon was behind many lawsuits challenging California’s response to the pandemic including restrictions imposed by stay-at-home orders.[5]
On April 13 and 24, 2020, Dhillon filed suits against the state of California challenging its stay-at-home order.[21][4][6] On behalf of two pastors inRiverside County, two parishioners inSan Bernardino County, and seven businesses, including restaurants, a pet grooming shop, and a gondola company, she argued that their constitutional rights were being violated.[21] Dhillon also filed lawsuits against the governors ofNew Jersey andVirginia over their restrictions on religious services.[4] Most of these lawsuits were filed through the Center for American Liberty.[4] Dhillon later argued that her lawsuits led to "large sectors of California’s economy opening up much sooner than the governor originally intended", which in the assessment ofThe New York Times contributed to an "alarming surge in cases" in the second half of June.[22] She criticized California's decision to send mail-in ballots to all registered voters for the 2020 election and, regarding California’s approach to the pandemic, she asserted it uncovered its propensity to overreach, “The Constitution is not suspended in a pandemic, any more than it was suspended in every war that we’ve had in this country.’’[6] In July 2020, it was reported that she was suing state and local governments in California to keep nail salons and barbers open and to prevent the closure of schools during the pandemic.[23]
In May 2020, Dhillon criticized Virginia for requiring the use of face masks in public. She claimed that "the masks don't work" (contradicting the recommendation of health experts and the US CDC).[24]
In June 2020, she criticized California for requiring the use of face masks in public when individuals were unable to physically distance.[25] She argued that people should be free to make their own decisions.[7] She called on California to reopen its economy, even though coronavirus cases were surging.[7] In July 2020, she said that she was considering filing a lawsuit over a restriction on singing or chanting in church to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.[26]
She filed a lawsuit against Hawaii when the state required that visitors to Hawaii undergo quarantine upon arrival. In July 2020, a judge ruled that the emergency mandate was a reasonable response to the public health threat posed by the coronavirus.[27]
On April 17, 2024 Dhillon testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee to demonstrate the violations of civil rights that took place during the Covid pandemic. She argued that during the pandemic that fundamental rights were taken simply because the government declared an emergency. Dhillon expressed that she was alarmed that an emergency, when perceived by the government as such, could lead to such an abrupt “erosion of our freedoms and the complete disregard for the judicial scrutiny the courts use to preserve them in every other instance.”[28]
On February 22, 2023, Dhillon's firm filed a lawsuit againstKaiser Permanente over misinforming and medical damage experienced by 18-year-olddetransitionerChloe Cole of Central Valley, California. The letter of intent to sue — addressed to Kaiser, a named endocrinologist, a named psychiatrist and a named plastic surgeon — claimed that Cole suffers from ongoing health effects fromoff-label use of prescription drugs. Cole says she was not properly informed as to potential negative effects of thepuberty blockers andtestosterone she was given at age 13. She also had adouble mastectomy as agender-affirming surgery at age 15 (legal in California). The lawsuit claims that Cole did not giveinformed consent and that she was under extreme duress to accede to the medical treatments.[29][30][31][32]
She was a legal adviser on the Trump 2020 campaign. While the Trump campaign was making claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election (as the ballots were being counted), Dhillon said the campaign was hoping that theSupreme Court, including Trump-appointed justices such asAmy Coney Barrett, would help Trump win the presidency.[33][34][35]
in 2023, Dhillon was hired byTucker Carlson to represent him in a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by former Fox News producerAbby Grossberg.[36]
In 2008, Dhillon ran for a seat in theCalifornia Assembly. She lost the race, garnering 17% of the vote in the traditionally Democratic district.[37] She ran for theCalifornia Senate in 2012, but was again unsuccessful.[38] She served as the chair of the San Francisco Republican Party.[4]
Dhillon became a board member of the northern California chapter of theAmerican Civil Liberties Union after theSeptember 11 attacks, in connection with her work on discrimination against Sikhs and other South Asians, and stayed on the board for three years.[4][38] She has been heavily criticized by Republican activists for her ties to the ACLU, as well as her past contributions to the political campaigning ofKamala Harris.[39]
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Dhillon was chosen to be a member of the California Republican Party's Board in 2013; she became a national committeewoman for the Republican National Committee in 2016.[2][4] She also gave the opening prayer at the 2016Republican National Convention.[40]
In early 2017, Dhillon interviewed to be theAssistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in theDepartment of Justice.[41] She was not nominated for the position.
Dhillon led the successful effort to removeChad Mayes as theCalifornia State AssemblyRepublican caucus leader in August 2017.[42][43]
On July 11, 2019, Dhillon gave a speech at the PresidentTrump's "Social Media Summit".[44][6] Dhillon is a co-chair ofWomen for Trump.[4] She has describedLaura Ingraham as a "long-time mentor."[5]
In December 2022, Dhillon announced her candidacy to replaceRonna McDaniel as chairperson of theRepublican National Committee.[45] During the race, conservative activistScott Presler published the email addresses and Twitter account names of RNC committee members on a website called "hireharmeet.com", which Dhillon shared on Twitter.[46][47] In January 2023, Dhillon reportedly faced a whisper campaign from supporters of McDaniel and ofMike Lindell focusing on her Sikh faith. On January 11, 2023, McDaniel disavowed the attacks, citing her own minorityMormon faith.[48][49] On January 27, 2023, Dhillon would lose to McDaniel in a 111–51 vote.[50]
Dhillon performed a Sikh prayer, theArdās, at the2024 Republican National Convention.[51] It was met with backlash on social media by far-right political figures such asLauren Witzke,Nick Fuentes, andStew Peters.[52][53]
In October 2024, Dhillon took part in an interview withTucker Carlson onThe Tucker Carlson Show to discuss criticisms ofKamala Harris in both her political and legal career.[54]
In October 2024, Dhillon was chosen by theArizona Republican Party to run its election integrity operation.[55]
On December 9, 2024, President-electDonald Trump nominated Dhillon to serve as theAssistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in theDepartment of Justice[56]
On April 3, 2025, Dhillon's nomination was confirmed by a vote of 52-45.[57] She is the first Republican woman and first Republican of Indian descent to lead the division.
Dhillon's first marriage to D. Singh in 1989 ended in divorce in 1991. Her second marriage to Kanwarjit Singh in 1994 ended in divorce in 2004. Her third marriage was to Sarvjit Singh Randhawa, lasting 13 years.[58][59] Randhawa died in 2024 after battlingParkinson's disease and cancer.[60][61]
Her father, Tejpal Singh Dhillon, was educated in England and the United States. After he finished his medical education in the Bronx - where his daughter attended a predominantly Jewish elementary school - some of his former classmates invited him to Smithfield, N.C., population 10,000 at the time, which needed an orthopedic surgeon.
Media related toHarmeet Dhillon at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related toHarmeet Dhillon at Wikiquote