“The Appointment Basically Puts the Fox In Charge of Protecting the Henhouse.”
However bumpy the confirmation road that some of Donald Trump’s top appointees are facing in the Senate, be assured that there are more to come.
There has been plenty of focus on the gap between experience and expectations for selections that have included Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head health services and Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead Defense, and firebrand Kash Patel, a vocal FBI foe, to head the FBI.
What have gathered less attention have been some of the next-level appointments, whether as deputies or ambassadors or advisers.
Last week, Trump nominated Harmeet K. Dhillon, a Trump loyalist, election denier, and regularly appearing voter restriction advocate, as the person to head Civil Rights enforcement. Apart from enforcement of policing matters, racial and identity justice, and individual protection policies, this is the job that oversees voting rights.
Much as with his choices to supervise government health, education, intelligence services and the military, he has turned to someone who consistently fights the government’s Civil Rights positions in court. She is not only loyal to Trump but has all the requisite experience any senator could want.
The only issue is that she sees Civil Rights enforcement as being about pressing for voting limits rather than for enforcing legal protection for marginalized groups. Already, that outlook is stirring serious objection about Civil Rights leaders.
Redefining Civil Rights
Since 2006, Dhillon has run a private law firm that has taken on right-leaning opposition to corporate diversity initiatives, transgender rights and Covid lockdown policies. She has challenged state voting right laws, pressed for redistricting and other election-related issues on behalf of Republicans, and advocated for Trump’s baseless assertions of widespread election fraud in 2020.
In 2018, Dhillon founded the Center for American Liberty, a nonprofit legal organization to defend “the civil liberties of Americans left behind by civil rights legacy organizations.” She was active this year in challenging election administration in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, going hard after county or city voter registration in Democratic areas.
The Justice Department founded its Civil Rights division in 1870 to protect the voting rights of Blacks. It now has hundreds of lawyers who coordinate cases involving community policing, education, housing problems raised by race or ethnicity.
“Dhillon has focused her career on diminishing civil rights, rather than enforcing or protecting them,” Maya Wiley, president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said in a statement, adding, “Rather than fighting to expand voting access, she has worked to restrict it.” NAACP President Derrick Johnson told reporters that Dhillon’s characterization that her nonprofit organization is protecting the rights of individuals not supported by “legacy civil rights” groups amounted to “gaslighting.”
On MSNBC, Mark Elias, of Democracy Docket, which hires lawyers to protect voter registration with Dhillon’s lawyers as opponent, said the appointment basically puts the fox in charge of protecting the henhouse.
Trump has cited her work in opposing social media companies’ efforts to censor free speech, defending the rights of Christians seeking to gather for prayer services during the 2020 coronavirus restrictions and fighting mandatory corporate diversity programs.
Dhillon’s Background
It seems clear that Justice will not be filing challenges to state and local laws limiting transgender rights or pursuing the kind of broad misconduct claims that Merrick Garland’s Justice Department has pursued involving a dozen local police jurisdictions and excessive force.
A confirmed Dhillon is likely to redefine “hate” crimes as religious rights against health coverage mandates that touch on reproductive health.
Dhillon, 55, was born in India and moved to the United States when she was 2 years old, growing up in North Carolina. She was graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia Law School.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks, Dhillon served for three years as a local ACLU board in Northern California and supported Kamala Harris for California Attorney General. She switched to Trump, and in 2023, unsuccessfully sought to unseat then-Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. Dhillon has handled many legal matters for Trump, including representing Trump allies like his former national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, in his dealings with the House Select Committee.
An unsuccessful candidate for state Senate in 2012, she became known nationally for taking on controversial legal cases, including challenging how California public schools handle gender identity issues and parental involvement. Before the Supreme Court, she successfully represented church groups who objected to state bans on in-person worship during Covid.
It’s a good chance to see what the Senate thinks the point of Civil Rights is.
