Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has recruited more than 100 lawyers to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, moving to rebuild an office that lost roughly 300 of its 400-plus attorneys over the past 19 months. The departure of so many career attorneys followed Dhillon’s overhaul of the division’s priorities under President Trump.
On Thursday, Dhillon posted a call to action on X, saying the division is “dedicated to eradicating DEI, cleaning up voter rolls, prosecuting religious discrimination, and more.” She directed candidates to a DOJ hiring page and urged them to “join the fight.”
Why Hundreds of Lawyers Walked Out
Dhillon described the departures in a recent interview with the Salem News Channel, explaining that career attorneys began quitting once leadership made clear it would implement President Trump’s executive orders. When we came in and told the lawyers here that we were going to be implementing the President’s executive orders and prioritizing getting rid of DEI and cleaning up voter rolls and, you know, doing some of these important things that the American people voted for, eventually about 300 of those attorneys quit,” she said. “And so, they self-deported,” she added with a smirk.
According to Harmeet Dhillon DOJ Civil Rights rebuild, Bloomberg Law reported that the gutted division is being restocked with lawyers rooted in conservative advocacy and Republican politics, with a mandate to challenge race-based DEI programs, sue states over voter-roll data, and defend gun rights.
Nearly 300 former DOJ career employees pushed back in a letter last October, accusing the Trump Justice Department of failing “to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil rights.” The letter also claimed that “this administration’s lies about the ‘deep state’ and exaggerations about government inefficiency have eroded the respect our country once held for public servants.
Dhillon’s New Team and What Comes Next
Dhillon acknowledged that budget constraints and DOGE restrictions slowed the hiring process, but said the effort is now gaining momentum. “I’m really happy to say that I recruited over 100 great legal professionals here to the DOJ,” she announced. “We have revitalized our efforts.”
DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels confirmed the progress, telling Bloomberg Law that the division “remains dedicated to protecting the rights of all Americans” and that the department is “grateful to the 100 lawyers and staff who have joined our team.” Pels added, “We look forward to welcoming 100 more.”
Dhillon said the rebuilt team is focused on “making sure that American citizens are not discriminated against in hiring” and “helping our states to stop illegal voting.” The new division is expected to pursue civil-rights enforcement in the direction Trump has ordered, moving away from the priorities that defined the office during the Biden administration.
