WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement after the Senate confirmed the nominations of Harmeet Dhillon, to be Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, and D. John Sauer, to be Solicitor General of the United States:
“The Civil Rights Division—often called the ‘crown jewel’ of the Justice Department—enforces landmark laws that prohibit discrimination and protect the right to vote. And it is the duty of the head of this Division to protect the civil rights of every American. I cannot and will not support a nominee whose record suggests she is more likely to attack civil rights than defend them.
“And it is the Solicitor General’s duty to represent the U.S. government before the Supreme Court as an apolitical lawyer. Yet, Mr. Sauer has failed to unequivocally state that all parties should comply with court orders or to commit to recusing himself from pending matters in which he represented President Trump as his personal attorney.
“Both Ms. Dhillon and Mr. Sauer are part of the growing list of the President’s personal lawyers who have been nominated for senior Justice Department roles. I do not believe that they will put the American people’s interests above President Trump’s.
“For these reasons, and more, I am disappointed that my Republican colleagues could not muster the courage to join me in opposing these nominees.”
Ms. Dhillon and her law firm have represented President Trump as an individual and his campaigns on numerous occasions, earning more than $8 million in legal fees. And Mr. Sauer currently represents the President in his post-trial appeals stemming from cases filed by E. Jean Carroll, as well as in his appeal of the $364 million judgment entered against him and his family business entities in the fraud case brought by the state of New York.
-30-