Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan voted to confirm Harmeet Dhillon to run the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and Pam Bondi as attorney general. Since January 2025 the division has shut down, withdrawn from or sought to end at least 36 cases and investigations of discrimination against Black, Latino and Native American people, including a case over a student loan product that discriminated against Alaska Native applicants, whose $1.5 million settlement was dropped. Up to 80 percent of the division's staff left.
Sullivan cast the deciding vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general in August 2026, and a month later the department dismissed more than 50 school desegregation cases. He also voted to confirm the EEOC chair who closed most job-discrimination charges based on disparate impact, and Linda McMahon, whose Education Department closed seven of its 12 civil rights offices and let complaints pile up.
Dan Sullivan's Confirmation Votes and the Civil Rights Cases That Were Dropped
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm Harmeet Dhillon, Whose Civil Rights Division Dropped Discrimination Cases, Including One for Alaska Native Borrowers. On April 3, 2025, Dan Sullivan voted to confirm Harmeet Dhillon as assistant attorney general for civil rights; she was confirmed 52 to 45. Red Line for Civil Rights, a tracker run by former Justice Department lawyers, found the division has shut down, withdrawn from, or sought to end at least 36 cases and investigations about discrimination against Black, Latino and Native American people. In one, DOJ had alleged that SouthEast Bank's student loan refinancing product discriminated against Black, American Indian, and Alaska Native applicants and had filed a proposed settlement with $1.5 million in relief, but DOJ dismissed the case on April 10, 2025, instead of pursuing the agreed-upon settlement. By October 2026, Up to 80% of the division staff did exactly that and left, NPR reported, including some 300 attorneys have left the division.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm Pam Bondi, Whose Justice Department Dropped Hiring Discrimination Settlements and Disparate-Impact Rules. On February 4, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general; she was confirmed 54 to 46. In February 2025 Bondi directed the dismissal of hiring-test cases, including one in Cobb County, Georgia, where the parties reached a settlement with $750,000 in back pay for Black firefighter applicants that never took effect. In December 2025 the department rewrote its Title VI rules, ensuring that only intentional discrimination violates Title VI from now on, according to an analysis by the law firm Cooley.
- Sullivan Cast the Deciding Vote to Confirm Todd Blanche, Whose Justice Department Dismissed More Than 50 School Desegregation Cases. Sullivan voted to confirm Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general on March 5, 2025 and as attorney general on August 8, 2026. The second vote was 50 to 49, so Blanche would not have been confirmed without Sullivan's vote. On September 24, 2026, DOJ announced the dismissal of more than 50 school desegregation cases, Red Line reported, and Red Line knows of no new civil case or investigation the Civil Rights Division has announced since January 20, 2025 involving systemic discrimination against Black, Latino or Native American people.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm the EEOC Chair Who Closed Most Disparate-Impact Job Discrimination Charges. On July 31, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Andrea Lucas to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which she chairs; she was confirmed 52 to 45. In September 2025 the EEOC said it will close almost all pending charges based solely on allegations of disparate impact, the law firm Littler reported.
- Sullivan Voted to Confirm Linda McMahon, Whose Education Department Let Civil Rights Complaints Pile Up. On March 3, 2025, Sullivan voted to confirm Linda McMahon as education secretary, and on October 7, 2025 he voted to confirm Kimberly Richey to run its Office for Civil Rights as part of a group of nominees. In March 2025 Seven of the civil rights agency's 12 regional offices closed. AP found the total number of resolved cases is down about 40%, and by December 2025 OCR now has about 25,000 pending complaints, NPR Illinois reported. The office also dismissed more than 6,000 complaints without an investigation, according to the Hechinger Report.
What the Civil Rights Retreat Dan Sullivan Enabled Means for Alaska
- Alaska Native borrowers. The SouthEast Bank case that DOJ dropped involved a student loan product that discriminated against Black, American Indian, and Alaska Native applicants; with the dismissal, the $1.5 million in relief in the proposed settlement was never paid, according to Red Line for Civil Rights.
- Alaska voter data. The same Civil Rights Division collected full state voter files, and Alaska and Texas signed the agreement when they gave their full voter files to the DOJ, the Brennan Center found, handing over Alaskans' personal voter records.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dan Sullivan on Civil rights
What is Dan Sullivan's record on civil rights under Trump?
Dan Sullivan voted to confirm Harmeet Dhillon, whose Civil Rights Division dropped at least 36 race-discrimination cases and investigations, including one involving Alaska Native borrowers, and Pam Bondi, who dropped hiring-discrimination settlements. He cast the deciding vote for Attorney General Todd Blanche, whose department dismissed more than 50 school desegregation cases, and voted to confirm the officials who scaled back EEOC and Education Department civil rights enforcement.
Did Dan Sullivan vote to confirm Harmeet Dhillon?
Yes. Dan Sullivan voted to confirm Harmeet Dhillon on April 3, 2025, and by October 2026 about 300 attorneys had left the division she runs, NPR reported. Under her, the division said it would shift away from priorities like enforcing voting rights laws and police misconduct cases, ABC News reported.
What happened to civil rights complaints at the Education Department?
Under Linda McMahon, whom Dan Sullivan voted to confirm, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights closed seven of its 12 regional offices, and by December 2025 it had about 25,000 pending complaints. Resolved cases fell about 40%, AP found.
Last updated: 2026-10-25