Politics

JUST IN: Key Trump Nominee Finally Confirmed Despite One GOP Holdout

Published

5 days ago

April 4, 2025

A single Republican holdout wasn’t enough to stop the U.S. Senate from confirming one of President Donald Trump’s last remaining nominees standing in the way of a full U.S. Justice Department.

Conservative lawyer Harmeet Dhillon was confirmed on a mostly party-line vote to head up the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, a post that will give her tremendous sway over how or whether the government prosecutes certain cases involving civil rights. According to the Senate roll call, only Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted against her nomination.

Dhillon, a member of the Republican National Committee who previously challenged Ronna McDaniel during her 2023 reelection, said during her confirmation hearing last month that she intends to lead office probes into “illegal and unconstitutional” diversity, equity, and inclusion policies within corporate America.

The 55-year-old was born in India and became a naturalized U.S. citizen when she was 12. Her father, Dr Tejpal. S Dhillon, was an orthopaedic surgeon who moved the family frequently during her childhood, she has said in past interviews. Her mother, Parminder Kaur Dhillon, described her daughter as “unyielding” to the opinions of others even at a young age.

Although she and President Trump had their differences over his handling of the pandemic, the two patched things up in time for her to nab the prominent post. Trump praised Dhillon’s focus on civil rights defense as the founder of the nonprofit Center for American Liberty, which offers legal help to those facing civil liberties cases, including Tucker Carlson.

“Harmeet is one of the top Election lawyers in the Country, fighting to ensure that all, and ONLY, legal votes are counted,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in announcing her nomination, the Western Journal reported.

Private struggles have been ever-present during Dhillon’s time in the public eye. Several years after joining the 186-member RNC, she lost her second husband to Parkinson’s disease. She left her first husband in 2003 after he refused to allow her to attend law school, and she later graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law.

At the 2024 Republican National Convention, she received blowback in some corners for reciting a Sikh prayer while wearing a traditional religious headscarf.

Her vow to bring an unbiased approach to the Civil Rights Division has earned her plaudits across the MAGA spectrum, however.

“I will start every analysis with the Constitution. I will respect the words of statutes, and the teachings of the courts, even if I disagree with them, though I will act within the law to challenge legal rulings I believe are wrong, or statutes that are unconstitutional,” she said.

“What I will NOT do, is use the DOJ Civil Rights Division as a partisan tool to push a political agenda. The Justice Department should stand for justice for all Americans.”

“My parents crossed two oceans to bring me, as a small child, to America. We are Americans by choice, and I can think of no higher honor as a lawyer than to be charged with defending and advancing the civil rights of all Americans.”