The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, joined by 65 national organizations, has written to US Senators urging them to oppose the confirmation of Indian American attorney from California, Harmeet Dhillon, to serve as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice.

“Based on her lack of independence and her extensive record of going after the rights of the very people she would  have the duty to defend,” the groups say that Dhillon is disqualified from serving as chief of the Civil Rights Division at DOJ, a March 12 press release said.

During most of the Obama and Biden administrations, another Indian American, Vanita Gupta, head the Civil Rights Division at DOJ. She previously headed the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

The opponents argued in their letter that at a time “when multiracial democracy and fundamental rights are in jeopardy …  it is critical that the Civil Rights Division both be a leader — and have a leader — committed to defending the civil and human rights of all people.”

“Especially at this fraught period in our nation’s history, the crucially important work of the division to enforce the promises made in our civil rights laws is more important than ever, and it requires an assistant attorney general with a demonstrated commitment to civil rights for all people,” the letter says. “Unfortunately, a careful review of her record and her responses to questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee demonstrate that Ms. Dhillon does not possess that commitment and is unfit for this critical position.”

Taking cases from Dhillon’s record as examples, the letter accuses her of undermining voting rights, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. It also says Dhillon, as well as the head of DOJ, Attorney General Pam Bondi, both have made unfounded claims of rampant voter fraud during the 2020 election.

The Leadership Conference was founded in 1950 as the leading advocacy organization for the civil rights movement. It is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights coalition with a diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations.

(Used with permission)

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