Justice Department Civil Rights Division Brings More Cases in California Than Any Other State

The civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice has directed more enforcement actions at California than at any other state in the first two years of President Trump’s second term, Los Angeles Times reported. The division, created in 1957, now prioritizes combating diversity initiatives, rolling back pro-transgender policies and addressing election fraud allegations.

Harmeet Dhillon, a California native and former chair of the San Francisco Republican Party, leads the division. Her firm represented President Trump in his 2024 ballot challenge in Colorado. The division has announced more than a dozen actions involving California universities, including findings that UC Davis and UCLA medical schools discriminated against white and Asian applicants and that UCLA failed to address antisemitic harassment of Jewish and Israeli students.

In March the division opened an investigation into the California Institution for Women in Chino and the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla over housing of transgender women. It cited allegations of sexual assaults, rape and voyeurism.

A separate lawsuit filed in September 2025 accused the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department of delaying concealed-carry permits, and another filed last month challenged California’s ban on Glock pistols.

Nearly three-quarters of the roughly 400 attorneys present at the start of 2025 have left under Dhillon’s leadership, Los Angeles Times reported. The division has hired 100 new lawyers and staff in the past 15 months and plans to add 100 more.

Former division chief Kristen Clarke said a wall between the Justice Department and the White House no longer exists. Sen. ” Dhillon said investigative decisions rest on law and facts rather than politics.