The Leadership Conference Statement on the Troubling Selection of Harmeet Dhillon to Lead DOJ Civil Rights Division
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [email protected]
WASHINGTON — Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement after President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Harmeet Dhillon to serve as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice:
“The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has the critical responsibility of enforcing our nation’s federal civil rights laws and ensuring equal justice under the law on behalf of all of our communities. That means investigating police departments that have a pattern of police abuse, protecting the right to vote, and ensuring schools don’t discriminate against children based on who they are. As the coalition that fought for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 that created the division —and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent laws that expanded its powers of protection — we are alarmed at the direction this administration is taking that puts real people’s lives, livelihoods, education, and more at risk.
“The nomination of Harmeet Dhillon to lead this critical civil rights office is yet another clear sign that this administration seeks to advance ideological viewpoints over the rights and protections that protect every person in this country. Dhillon has focused her career on diminishing civil rights, rather than enforcing or protecting them. Rather than fighting to expand voting access, she has worked to restrict it. Instead of defending election results and demonstrating concern for free and fair elections, for example, she helped fuel the big lie in many forms, challenging election results on several occasions based on misrepresentations and outright lies. Her record on LGBTQ issues is also deeply disturbing. We will continue to review her full record on the range of critical civil rights issues that the lawyer appointed to this central leadership position would be obligated to protect.
“We need a leader at the Civil Rights Division who understands that civil rights protections are not partisan or political positions open to the ideological whims of those who seek to elevate a single religion or to protect political allies or particular groups over others. We need a leader who will vigorously enforce our civil rights laws and work to protect the rights of all of our communities — including in voting, education, employment, housing, and public accommodations — without fear or favor.
“With the selection of Harmeet Dhillon — who has shown more interest in divisiveness rather than defending constitutional rights — the incoming administration has made clear that civil rights enforcement will be under attack from within.
“Make no mistake: Our federal civil rights laws have transformed this nation, outlawing discrimination in nearly every facet of American life and helping to increase life expectancies of Black people, providing for more protections against abusive policing, and ensuring increased voter participation. All people in America deserve DOJ leadership, including an assistant attorney general for civil rights, with a demonstrated commitment to civil rights and a career path that proves the nominee would move our nation forward and not backward.”
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.
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