Fears for civil rights as Trump taps Maga darling for key justice department role

Rights leaders worry that Harmeet Dhillon could harm work into police misconduct, discrimination and hate crimes

Donald Trump plans to tap a loyalist whose civil rights résumé largely consists of culture-war battles over campus free-speech issues and attacks on diversity initiatives to helm the justice department’s civil rights division. The move puts at risk hundreds of active investigations, from police misconduct to employment and housing discrimination to abuses in jails and prisons.

Trump intends to replace the assistant attorney general, Kristen Clarke, the current chief of the civil rights division and the first Black woman to lead the division, with Harmeet Dhillon, a Maga darling and fixture in rightwing media.