Donald Trump added another strident supporter to his list of nominees for his incoming administration on Monday, announcing attorney Harmeet Dhillon, an avowed election denier and anti-woke and anti-trans activist, as his pick to lead the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice.
The conservative MAGA acolyte was co-chairwoman of Lawyers for Trump, a group that challenged the results of the 2020 presidential election, and has a history of battling DEI initiatives in court. She represented anti-trans detransitioner Chloe Cole in a lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente.
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“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,” Trump declared in a post on his Truth Social network.
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The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division enforces voting rights laws and efforts to fight racism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination. The division’s remit includes investigating police departments’ misconduct, which the Biden administration has pursued aggressively.
The division is currently rushing to wrap those cases before Trump takes office; the Justice Department shelved several high-profile cases involving misconduct by major city police departments during Trump’s first administration. The former president has vowed to provide blanket immunity to cops.
“I’m extremely honored by President Trump’s nomination to assist with our nation’s civil rights agenda,” Dhillon, 55, posted on social media. “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.”
If confirmed, Dhillon will report to Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general in the wake of former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s abrupt withdrawal from consideration by the Senate. Bondi, as well, is an anti-woke activist with a history of hostility to marriage equality.
Dhillon founded the Center for American Liberty, a legal organization that focuses heavily on overturning transgender rights. In addition to representing anti-trans activist Cole, Erin Reed reports Dhillon’s group led a lawsuit challenging a Colorado school’s use of a transgender student’s preferred name; a case against a California school district seeking to implement policies that would forcibly out transgender students; and a lawsuit against Vermont for denying a foster care license to a family unwilling to comply with nondiscrimination policies regarding transgender youth.
Dhillon has also advocated against state “shield laws” designed to protect transgender residents from efforts to eliminate access to healthcare, even in jurisdictions where bans don’t exist.
In Cole’s case, Dhillon claimed Kaiser Hospitals pushed “her into medical mutilation instead of properly treating her.”
“What Kaiser did, for profit, to Chloe in the name of woke ideology instead of sound medical practice, should not happen to any child in America!” Dhillon said at the time.
Dhillon’s anti-trans advocacy extends from the courts to social media, where she frequently praises LibsofTikTok’s Chaya Raichik, the rabidly anti-LGBTQ+ activist whose stochastic terrorism has resulted in bomb threats to institutions providing healthcare to trans individuals.
In one post to social, Dhillon declared that hospitals providing healthcare to trans people must be made “unsafe” to do so.
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