Civil rights lawyers leave en masse as Justice Dept. mission shifts

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The new head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division is dramatically reshaping the office to propel President Donald Trump’s social agenda, prompting the departure of about half of the division’s lawyers in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the situation and public statements from top officials.

Since being sworn in this month, civil rights director Harmeet K. Dhillon has redirected her staff to focus on combating antisemitism, anti-Christian bias, the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports, and what Trump and his allies have described as Democrat’s “woke ideology.”

The division changed mission statements across its sections to focus less on racial discrimination and more on fighting diversity initiatives and anti-Christian bias. And department officials reassigned more than a dozen career staffers — including section chiefs overseeing police brutality, disability and voting rights cases — to areas outside of their legal expertise.

The changes under Dhillon, a longtime Republican activist, coincide with a second White House offer to federal workers that allows them to resign from their positions and be paid through September. The deadline for that offer is late Monday evening, and civil rights employees have been submitting their resignations en masse as the deadline nears, said people familiar with the operations of the division, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

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