[President-elect Donald Trump’s Justice Department is preparing to go on the “anti-‘woke’ offensive against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have been a cause célèbre of the right, two sources familiar with the incoming administration’s plans told CNN.
Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department’s storied Civil Rights Division – conservative San Francisco attorney Harmeet Dhillon – is expected to use the powerful perch to reverse many of the Biden administration’s civil rights initiatives.
If confirmed, Dhillon would be in a position to upend the division’s work on a range of hot-button areas, including transgender rights, voting and policing. In particular, the division is expected to try to dismantle DEI policies at schools, government agencies and other public institutions, according to the sources familiar with the planning.
Dhillon would be the first woman to lead the Civil Rights Division, a long-time veteran of the Republican Party who has been a strong critic of “woke” policies and has advocated for a more conservative approach to civil rights.
Dhillon’s selection, made before many other division heads have been announced, signifies the importance of the Civil Rights Division to the Trump transition team, according to a source familiar with the strategy.
The division, created in the 1950s, leads the Justice Department’s enforcement of federal laws intended to combat discrimination in areas such as housing, employment, and education. It’s also tasked with enforcing major federal voting laws such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Historically, the division under Republican administrations has been largely dormant. But under Democratic administrations, the division typically takes a more active approach in waging high-profile civil rights battles, a pattern that has remained true during Biden’s term.
Trump is not expected to continue those investigations or to pursue so-called consent decrees, which require federal oversight of police departments.
A key early sign of the ideological shift could emerge in the federal government’s challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. The Supreme Court heard arguments last week in the challenge, which was brought by Clarke’s Civil Rights Division in 2023. It’s possible that Trump’s solicitor general, in consultation with Dhillon, who has shown hostility towards trans rights, will seek to flip the Justice Department’s position in the case, which could result in the high court dropping the case altogether.
On the DEI front, Dhillon would be able to throw the full weight of the division behind legal challenges to policies from public schools and other state and local employers that the new administration opposes.
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