Harmeet Dhillon has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump for the position of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, as he announced on Monday.
“Throughout her professional journey, Harmeet has consistently defended our fundamental Civil Liberties, including her fight against Big Tech for limiting our Free Speech, representing Christians who were barred from praying in unison during the COVID pandemic, and initiating lawsuits against corporations that employ woke policies to discriminate against their employees,” Trump mentioned in a message on Truth Social.
Dhillon, a legal advisor for the 2020 Trump campaign who urged the Supreme Court to intervene in the presidential election based on unfounded allegations of fraud, has indeed aligned her record with conservative objectives.
In 2017, Dhillon took action on behalf of the UC Berkeley College Republicans and Young America’s Foundation, suing the university after it canceled a speaking event featuring right-wing commentator Ann Coulter, allegedly citing safety issues.
Later that same year, she advocated for former Google engineer James Damore, who was dismissed from the company following the release of an internal memo that criticized its culture and diversity initiatives.
Two years after that, Dhillon represented conservative journalist and social media figure Andy Ngo in a lawsuit against the left-wing activist group Antifa after Ngo suffered injuries in Portland, Oregon, inflicted by counter-protesters during a Proud Boys rally.
Trump also hinted at Dhillon’s involvement in several lawsuits against California’s stay-at-home mandates during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. Dhillon represented both pastors and congregants, in addition to multiple businesses.
Furthermore, she represented former Fox News host Tucker Carlson after a gender discrimination lawsuit was filed against him by Abby Grossberg, a previous producer of Carlson’s program. That lawsuit, along with another by Grossberg alleging Fox pressured her to provide false testimony, concluded with a settlement in which Fox compensated her with $12 million.
Formerly the vice chairperson of the California GOP, Dhillon made an unsuccessful attempt in 2023 to replace Ronna McDaniel as chair of the Republican National Committee.
Recently, in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential elections, the Arizona Republican Party appointed Dhillon to oversee its election integrity initiative.