The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is facing major changes under the Trump administration, with a majority of career managers being forced out and new priorities being implemented. More than a dozen senior lawyers, some with decades of experience, have either been reassigned or resigned due to frustration.
The head of the division, Harmeet Dhillon, has issued memos outlining priorities that conflict with the division’s traditional mission of enforcing laws against discrimination. Instead, the division is now focusing on Trump’s executive orders, such as “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports” and “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.”
The changes have not been publicly announced by the Justice Department, leading to concerns from current and former employees. They say the division’s enforcement priorities are being completely revamped, with many section chiefs being transferred to unrelated roles, causing the traditional work of the division to come to a halt.
Overall, the overhaul of the Civil Rights Division is part of a larger trend happening across the federal government, with nonpartisan civil servants being removed and agencies being reoriented at an unprecedented speed. Former employees are worried that vital civil rights work will not get done under the new regime.
