Catherine E. Lhamon

Catherine Elizabeth Lhamon (born August 5, 1971) is an American attorney and former government official serving as the executive director of the Edley Center on Law and Democracy at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Lhamon served as assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education during both the Obama and Biden administrations. During her tenure with the department, she instituted changes to Title IX rules that some feminist and progressive groups praised but conservatives, libertarians, and some liberals and feminists criticized.

Lhamon was deputy chair of the United States Domestic Policy Council for racial justice and equality from January to October 2021 and chaired the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 2016 to 2021.

Early life and education Lhamon was raised in Palo Alto, California. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College and Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.

Career Lhamon began her career as a law clerk for William Albert Norris of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, then joined the Appellate Litigation Program at Georgetown University Law Center. For ten years, she was an attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. After that, she was with the pro bono law firm Public Counsel. During her tenure, that office issued "Dear Colleague" letters and other guidelines to school officials, clarifying that a school's failure to appropriately respond to sexual violence or its mistreatment of transgender students can constitute sex discrimination in violation of Title IX, outlining how schools can ensure that student discipline complies with laws prohibiting race discrimination, and explaining how the use of restraint or seclusion can result in unlawful discrimination against students with disabilities. The Title IX guidelines she instituted banned lawyers for the accused from cross-examining witnesses, strongly discouraged the accused from cross-examining witnesses, strongly encouraged schools to allow the complainants not to disclose their identity to the accused, and required schools to use a preponderance of evidence standard (i.e., more likely than not, as opposed to very likely or beyond a reasonable doubt) in evaluating claims. Some feminist organizations praised the new requirements and criticized the Trump Administration's education secretary Betsy DeVos for reversing them. Ms. Magazine hailed "a week of progress for the Obama administration". Feminist author Lara Bazelon wrote that the regulations "gave risk-averse schools incentives to expel the accused without any reliable fact-finding process." The regulations were reversed in 2020 by education secretary Betsy DeVos.

In December 2016, Lhamon was appointed chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. In 2019, she was appointed California legal affairs secretary by Governor Gavin Newsom.

On May 13, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Lhamon for a second term as assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education. The nomination was submitted to the Senate on the same day and referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The committee deadlocked on an August 3 vote to report the nomination favorably to the Senate. The Senate voted to discharge the nomination from the committee on October 7 by a vote of 50–49. Vice President Kamala Harris cast two tie-breaking votes on October 20 on the Senate's motion to invoke cloture on, as well as to confirm, Lhamon's nomination.

On May 7, 2024, as head of the Office for Civil Rights, Lhamon issued guidance that broadened the Department's definition of alleged antisemitism on college campuses, for the first time giving "hypothetical examples of antisemitism that included acts of criticism or protest against Israel", which the American Association of University Professors identified as contributing to a federal policy of conflating anti-Zionism with discrimination.

In June 2025, Lhamon became the inaugural executive director of the Edley Center on Law and Democracy at the UC Berkeley School of Law. Named in honor of her mentor Christopher Edley Jr., the center's mission is to "defend and strengthen democratic institutions in the United States through actionable research and public leadership."

Personal life Lhamon is married to Giev Kashkooli, the political and legislative director of the United Farm Workers union. They have two children.