President-elect Donald Trump introduced on Monday that he plans to appoint a conservative California legal professional to guide a essential division of the Division of Justice.
Harmeet Dhillon, a former vice chairwoman of the California GOP and a nationwide committeewoman for the Republican Nationwide Committee, was chosen by Trump to function assistant legal professional basic for civil rights on the Justice Division. She would change Kristen Clarke, who grew to become the primary lady and first Black lady to run the division in 2021.
Trump, who described Dhillon as one of many “top Election lawyers” within the nation in his Fact Social announcement, mentioned that she would have a big position in voting rights enforcement.
“Throughout her career, Harmeet has stood up consistently to protect our cherished Civil Liberties, including taking on Big Tech for censoring our Free Speech, representing Christians who were prevented from praying together during COVID, and suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers,” he wrote.
Dhillon combated stay-at-home orders in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. She filed a number of lawsuits towards government-level rules, arguing there was overreach. The lawsuits Dhillon filed got here after Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom grew to become the primary governor to concern statewide stay-at-home orders to close down nonessential actions and pursuits to fight the unfold of the coronavirus.
In 2018, Dhillon based the conservative nonprofit The Heart for American Liberty, which has filed lawsuits difficult vaccine necessities and trans-inclusive college insurance policies. Most notably, Dhillon at the moment represents Chloe Cole, a younger activist who sued Kaiser Permanente in California after she detransitioned from male to feminine. Cole has rallied alongside Republican politicians and conservative media figures, and has testified in help of dozens of state legal guidelines limiting entry to gender-affirming take care of trans youth.
Dhillon is very essential of blue states that purpose to uphold and shield rights for transgender individuals in mild of ongoing legislative assaults. She mentioned Maine’s “shield” regulation, which protects reproductive well being care suppliers and trans individuals, is “unconstitutional” and expressed issues about future protections in California.
A staunch opponent of abortion herself, the legal professional additionally unsuccessfully represented anti-abortion activist David Daleiden, who in 2016 used a pretend driver’s license to pose as a biomedical firm govt and tried to purchase fetal tissue from Deliberate Parenthood, in an effort to accuse the well being care supplier of promoting tissue for revenue.
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Dhillon, who was born in India and is a training Sikh, has confronted pushback from fellow Republicans because of questions of her religion. After she introduced in 2022 that she would problem RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel for her place, a number of members of the RNC circulated a video of Dhillon opening a 2016 Republican Nationwide Conference with a Sikh prayer. In a letter to Alabama Republicans in 2023 responding to the incident, Dhillon addressed issues about her religion and slammed McDaniel’s management. Alabama Republican Chris Horn questioned how Dhillon’s faith would impression coverage to NBC. McDaniel condemned assaults on faith however instructed Politico her allies questioned how Dhillon’s religion would impression the social gathering.
Final yr, former Fox Information host and conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson employed Dhillon to characterize him in a gender discrimination lawsuit by his former producer, Abby Grossberg. The following settlement resulted in Fox paying Grossberg $12 million.
“I’m extremely honored by President Trump’s nomination to assist with our nation’s civil rights agenda,” Dhillon mentioned in a publish on X (previously often called Twitter). “It has been my dream to be able to serve our great country, and I am so excited to be part of an incredible team of lawyers led by @PamBondi. I cannot wait to get to work!”
Lil Kalish contributed reporting.
