Harmeet Dhillon

Harmeet Kaur Dhillon is an American lawyer and Republican Party official. She is the former vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party, and the National Committeewoman of the Republican National Committee for California.[3][4] She owns a law practice called Dhillon Law Group Inc.[5]

Harmeet Dhillon
Dhillon speaks at the White House's Social Media Summit in 2019
Republican National Committeewoman
from California
Assumed office
July 19, 2016
Serving with Shawn Steel
Preceded byLinda Ackerman
Personal details
Born
Harmeet Kaur Dhillon

1969 (age 50–51)
Chandigarh, Punjab, India
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Kanwarjit Singh (divorced)[1]
Sarvjit Randhawa (2011)[2]
ResidenceSan Francisco, California
Sea Ranch, California
Alma materDartmouth College
University of Virginia
ProfessionAttorney
Websitewww.dhillonlaw.com

Early life and education

Dhillon was born in Chandigarh, India in 1969.[6] Her family moved to the U.S. when she was a child so that her father could pursue a career as an orthopedic surgeon. Her family eventually settled in Smithfield, North Carolina. After finishing high school at age 16, she attended college at Dartmouth. She became a writer and eventually editor-in-chief at The Dartmouth Review. After graduating, she attended law school at the University of Virginia.[6]

Political involvement

In 2008, Dhillon ran for a seat in the California Assembly. She lost the race but exceeded expectations by garnering 17% of the vote in her heavily Democratic district.[7] She ran for the California Senate in 2012, but she was unsuccessful.[8] She served as the chair of the San Francisco Republican Party.[9]

Dhillon is no longer a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.[8] She joined after the September 11 attacks.[9] She has been heavily criticized by Republican activists for her ties to the ACLU, as well as her past contributions to the political campaigning of Kamala Harris.[10]

Dhillon was chosen to be a member of the California Republican Party's Board in 2013; she became the National Committeewoman for the Republican National Committee in 2016.[4][9] She also gave the opening prayer at the 2016 Republican National Convention.[11]

In early 2017, Dhillon interviewed to be the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Department of Justice.[12] She ultimately was not nominated for the position.

Dhillon led the successful effort to remove Chad Mayes as the California State Assembly Republican caucus leader in August 2017.[13][14]

On July 11, 2019, Dhillon was introduced by President Donald Trump and gave a speech at the President's "Social Media Summit".[15][16]

Dhillon is a co-chair of Women for Trump.[9]

Lawsuits

Dhillon filed a lawsuit in April 2017 against UC Berkeley on behalf of the Berkeley College Republicans (BCR) and Young America's Foundation for freedom of speech issues, particularly the school cancelling Ann Coulter's speech.[17]

In August 2017, James Damore, the Google memo writer, hired Dhillon to be his lawyer against Google. Dhillon's firm has said it is also willing to represent more employees from Google that have similar stories to Damore.[18] though Dhillon has already lost an appeal to the National Labor Relations Board.[19] Damore's lawsuit against Google also was dismissed pursuant to a mandatory arbitration clause; however, the case continues without him.[20][21]

Journalist Andy Ngo retained Dhillon as his attorney after being assaulted on the street in Portland, Oregon, in June 2019.[22] In June 2020, Dhillon filed suit on behalf of Ngo against antifa seeking $900,000 in damages for assault and emotional distress, and an injunction to prevent further harassment. The lawsuit cites Rose City Antifa, five other named defendants, and additional unknown assailants. It stems from multiple alleged attacks on Ngo in Portland during 2019, and accuses Rose City Antifa in particular of a "pattern of racketeering activities".[23]

On April 13 and 24, 2020, Dhillon filed suits against the state of California challenging its Stay Home Order enacted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.[24][9][16] On behalf of two pastors in Riverside County, two parishioners in San Bernardino County, and seven businesses, including restaurants, a pet-grooming shop and a gondola company, she argued that their constitutional rights were being violated.[24] Dhillon also filed lawsuits against the governors of New Jersey and Virginia over their restrictions on religious services.[9]

References
  1. Levine, Daniel S. "Harmeet Dhillon: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  2. "Republican activist takes on class-action suit against Google". India Abroad.
  3. Mehta, Seema (July 19, 2016). "California lawyer delivers Sikh prayer at GOP convention". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
  4. "National Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon". GOP. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  5. "Litigation Boutique Firm - Legal Services | Dhillon Law Group". Dhillon Law Group. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  6. Anderson, Bruce (May 2013). "The Outsider". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  7. Garofoli, Joe (Apr 24, 2011). "Harmeet Dhillon, Republican leader with S.F. twist". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
  8. Anderson, Bruce. "Former Review editor Harmeet Dhillon '89 leads the Republican Party in one of the nation's most liberal cities". Dartmouth Alumni magazine. Retrieved 2017-08-01. MAY - JUN 2013
  9. Ronayne, Kathleen (May 29, 2020). "GOP lawyer fights California governor on stay-at-home orders". Associated Press. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  10. "S.F. GOP leader SLAMMED by Republicans". SF Gate. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  11. "California lawyer delivers Sikh prayer at GOP convention". Los Angeles Times. 2016-07-19. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-11-11.
  12. Cadelago, Christopher (March 10, 2017). "Harmeet Dhillon, California Republican leader, a candidate for Justice Department post". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
  13. Megerian, Chris. "California Republicans tell Assembly GOP leader Chad Mayes to step down". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  14. "California Republican lawmakers oust Chad Mayes over climate-deal rift". The Mercury News. 2017-08-24. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  15. July 11, Ian Schwartz On Date; 2019. "Full Video: President Trump Speaks At Social Media Summit At White House". www.realclearpolitics.com. Retrieved 2019-07-22.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. Marinucci, Carla (May 29, 2020). "Conservatives turn to San Francisco lawyer to fight coronavirus orders". Politico. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  17. Svrluga, Susan; Wan, William (2017-04-24). "Lawsuit filed against UC Berkeley for canceling Ann Coulter speech". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  18. "The Google mmo writer has hired a GOP official to be his lawyer and she's already gathering facts". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  19. "Google Legally Fired Diversity Memo Author, Labor Agency Says". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  20. "Google's Fired Engineer Exits Lawsuit for Arbitration". Mercury News. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
  21. Hopkins, Anna (2019-06-10). "Judge rules lawsuit accusing Google of bias against conservatives can proceed". Fox News. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  22. Melanie Woodrow (July 1, 2019). "Portland journalist Andy Ngo speaks out, says Antifa behind attack". KGO-TV. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  23. Thompson, Don (June 5, 2020). "Portland conservative writer suing 'antifa' for injuries". KATU. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  24. Egelko, Bob. "California experts question legal basis for Barr's plan to challenge coronavirus shelter orders". Retrieved 26 April 2020.
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