Exodus at DOJ civil rights division as new leader says 'over 100' [now 250] attorneys departed rather than reprioritize to Trump's culture war

The resignations come as [Assistant AG Harmeet] Dhillon and Attorney General Pam Bondi have made clear the priorities of the division -- which was established in the wake of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s -- would shift away from priorities like enforcing voting rights laws and cracking down on unconstitutional policing to culture war issues touted by President Trump in his 2024 campaign.

In recent weeks, the department has said it would pursue legal action against states that permit transgender athletes to participate in girls' and women's sports, withdrawn from a Biden-era lawsuit against Georgia's voting laws and convened a task force to investigate incidents of "anti-Christian bias."

"We don't want people in the federal government who feel like it's their pet project to go persecute, you know, police departments based on statistical evidence or persecute people praying outside abortion facilities instead of doing violence," Dhillon said.

US justice department asks civil rights division attorneys to stay after mass exits​

Officials also asked attorneys who were removed in April if they would consider returning to handle civil rights work

Justice department officials have asked civil rights division attorneys to reconsider their decision to leave the department in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, a sign that the agency may have been caught off-guard by the wave of personnel leaving.

Officials have also asked attorneys, including career managers, who were involuntarily detailed to low-level offices last month, if they would consider returning to their sections to handle civil rights work, the people said. The attorneys were removed in late April in what was widely understood as an effort to force them to accept a paid offer to leave the department.

More than 250 civil rights division attorneys have left since January or are planning to leave, an approximate 70% reduction in the division’s personnel.

Harmeet Dhillon, a Donald Trump ally who leads the civil rights division, has celebrated the departures. [i.e. the OP] “Over 100 attorneys decided that they’d rather not do what their job requires them to do, and I think that’s fine,” she said in a 26 April interview on conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s podcast. She also has said she has “more applicants than I can possibly hire right now”. <---that may not have been true!