Kamala Harris

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kamala Devi Harris (born October 20, 1964) is an

American attorney and politician who currently serves as a Kamala Harris
senator from California. She is a member of the Democratic
Party. She previously served as the 32nd Attorney General of
California.

Harris graduated from Howard University and UC Hastings.

After working in the San Francisco District Attorney's office
and City Attorney's office, she was elected District Attorney
of San Francisco in 2003 and held that position until 2011.
Harris was elected California's Attorney General in 2010,
and re-elected in 2014.[1][2]

On November 8, 2016, she defeated Loretta Sanchez in the

2016 U.S. Senate election to replace outgoing Democratic
senator Barbara Boxer, becoming the first Indian American
elected to serve in the United States Senate.[3][4] As a
senator, she has generally opposed President Donald Trump's
policies.[5]

Harris is described in the media as a potential candidate for United States Senator
president in 2020.[6][7]
from California
Incumbent

Contents Assumed office

January 3, 2017
1 Early life and education Serving with Dianne Feinstein
2 Early career Preceded by Barbara Boxer
2.1 District Attorney of the City and County
32nd Attorney General of California
of San Francisco
2.1.1 Violent crimes, felons, In office
incarceration, and conviction rate January 3, 2011 January 3, 2017
2.1.2 Hate crimes and civil rights
Governor Jerry Brown
2.1.3 Police department laboratory and
disclosure failures Preceded by Jerry Brown
3 Attorney General of California Succeeded by Xavier Becerra
3.1 2010 election
3.2 2014 election District Attorney of San Francisco
3.3 Tenure as California Attorney General In office
3.3.1 Housing
January 8, 2004 January 3, 2011
3.3.2 Prison conditions and sentencing
reform Preceded by Terence Hallinan
3.3.3 Daniel Larsen case Succeeded by George Gascn
3.3.4 County prosecutors' misconduct
3.3.5 Bureau of Children's Justice Personal details
3.3.6 Mitrice Richardson case Born Kamala Devi Harris
4 U.S. Senate October 20, 1964
4.1 2016 election
Oakland, California, U.S.
4.2 Tenure
4.3 Committee assignments Political Democratic
4.4 Caucus memberships party
5 Political positions
 5.1 Gun control Spouse(s) Douglas Emhoff (m. 2014)
5.2 Death penalty
Relatives Maya Harris (sister)
5.3 Immigration
5.4 Abortion Meena Harris (niece)
5.5 Education Education Howard University (BA)
5.6 Environment
University of California, Hastings
5.7 Financial crimes
(JD)
6 Personal life
7 See also Website Senate website
8 References
9 External links

Early life and education

Kamala Devi Harris (/kmle/, KAH-m-luh ;[8]) was born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California. She is
the daughter of a Tamil Indian mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris (19382009), a breast cancer researcher
who emigrated from Chennai, India, in 1960,[9][10] and an African American father of Jamaican descent,
Donald Harris, a Stanford University economics professor.[15] Her name, Kamal, is feminization of the
Sanskrit word Kamal (Lotus Flower / Nelumbo nucifera) that means "She of the Lotus", another name of
Laxmi, the Hindu Goddess of prosperity whose seat is a lotus flower. She was extremely close with her
maternal grandfather, Rajam Gopalan, an Indian diplomat,[10] and as a child she would frequently visit her
family in Besant Nagar.[16] She has one younger sister, Maya, a lawyer and public policy advocate, who
married Tony West, a former Associate Attorney General of the United States.[17]

The family moved to Berkeley, California, where both of Kamala's parents attended graduate school.[18] They
also introduced their daughter to civil rights protests, which were common during that time in Berkeley.[18]
Kamala's parents divorced when she was 7.[18] Shyamala raised her daughters in Berkeley, where the family
lived in a predominantly African-American neighborhood and where the girls sang in a Baptist choir,[14] and
they were also raised with Hindu beliefs. Her mother eventually moved the family to Montreal, Quebec,
Canada, where Shyamala took a position doing research at the Jewish General Hospital and teaching at McGill
University.[19][20]

After graduating from Montreal's Westmount High School in Quebec, Harris attended Howard University in
Washington, D.C., where she majored in political science and economics.[21][22] At Howard, Harris was elected
to the liberal arts student council as freshman class representative, a member of the debate team, and joined the
Alpha Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.[21]

Harris then returned to California, earning her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from University of California, Hastings
College of the Law, in 1989.[23] Harris failed the California bar exam her first time, later saying, "it's not a
measure of your capacity."[14] She was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1990.[24]

Early career
Harris served as a Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County, California, from 1990 to 1998. Harris says she
sought a career in law enforcement because she wanted to be "at the table where decisions are made."[14] After
1998, while Willie Brown was San Francisco's mayor, she became Managing Attorney of the Career Criminal
Unit in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. In 2000, San Francisco City Attorney Louise Renne
recruited Harris to join her office, where she was Chief of the Community and Neighborhood Division, which
oversees civil code enforcement matters.[25] Recognized by The Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of the top
100 lawyers in California, she served on the board of the California District Attorney's Association and was
Vice President of the National District Attorneys Association.[26]

District Attorney of the City and County of San Francisco

After the Fajitagate scandal, Harris defeated two-term incumbent
Terence Hallinan in the 2003 election to become District Attorney of the
City and County of San Francisco.[27]

In April 2004, San Francisco Police Department Officer Isaac Espinoza

was shot and killed in the line of duty.[14] Three days later D.A. Harris
announced she would not seek the death penalty, infuriating the San
Francisco Police Officers Association.[14] During Officer Espinoza's
funeral at St. Mary's Cathedral U.S. Senator and former San Francisco
mayor Dianne Feinstein rose to the pulpit and called on Harris, who was Harris (back, second from the left)
sitting in the front pew, to secure the death penalty, prompting a celebrating the 90th anniversary of the
standing ovation from the 2,000 uniformed police officers in Nineteenth Amendment to the United
attendance.[14] Harris still refused.[14] Officer Espinoza's killer was States Constitution.
convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison.[14]

As D.A., Harris started a program that gives first-time drug dealers the chance to earn a high-school diploma
and find employment.[14] Over eight years the program produced fewer than 300 graduates, but achieved a very
low recidivism rate.[14] She was re-elected when she ran unopposed, in 2007.[28]

In 2009, Harris wrote Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor's Plan to Make Us Safer,[29] in which she looked
at criminal justice from an economic perspective and attempted to reduce temptation and access for
criminals.[30] The book discusses a series of "myths" surrounding the criminal justice system, and presents
proposals to reduce and prevent crime.[30]

She has been outspoken on the need for innovation in public safety, particularly with respect to reducing the
recidivism rate in San Francisco.[31] One such program, "Back on Track", was signed into law by Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger as a model program for the state.[32][33] Initially, there were issues with removing
illegal immigrants from the program, such as an incident involving Alexander Izaguirre, who was later arrested
for assault.[34] The program was revised to address that concern, barring anyone who could not legally be
employed in the United States.[35]

Violent crimes, felons, incarceration, and conviction rate

While Harris was the San Francisco District Attorney, the overall felony conviction rate rose from 52% in 2003
to 67% in 2006, the highest in a decade; there was an 85% conviction rate for homicides, and convictions of
drug dealers increased from 56% in 2003 to 74% in 2006.[36] While these statistics represent only trial
convictions, she also closed many cases via plea bargains.[37] When she took office, she took a special interest
in clearing part of the murder caseload from the previous administration. Harris claimed that the records were
less than optimal from the previous administration, and worked to get convictions on what she could. That
meant that out of the 73 homicide cases backlogged, 32 cases took deals for lesser charges such as
manslaughter or took pleas to other crimes such as assault or burglary while the murder charges were
dismissed.[38]

However, critics argue that San Francisco sends fewer people to jail per arrest than other counties throughout
the state. The San Francisco DA's incarceration rates were among the lowest in the entire state of California
fully ten times lower than in San Diego County, for example. According to the San Francisco Chronicle,
"roughly 4 of every 100 arrests resulted in prison terms in San Francisco, compared with 12.8 out of 100 in
Alameda County, 14.4 of 100 in Sacramento County, 21 of 100 in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, 26.6 of
100 in Fresno County, 38.7 of 100 in Los Angeles County and 41 of 100 in San Diego County."[39] Police also
noted that lenient sentencing from San Francisco judges also played a role in this.[39]

While officers within the SFPD credited Harris with tightening loopholes in bail and drug programs that
defendants had exploited in the past, they also accused her of being too deliberate in her prosecution of murder
suspects.[40] Additionally, in 2009 San Francisco prosecutors won a lower percentage of their felony jury trials
than their counterparts at district attorneys' offices covering the 10 largest cities in California, according to data
on case outcomes compiled by officials at the San Francisco Superior Court as well as by other county courts
and prosecutors. (Officials in Sacramento, the sixth-largest city in California, did not provide data.) Harris's at-
trial felony conviction rate that year was 76%, down 12 points from the previous year. By contrast, the then-
most recent recorded statewide average was 83%, according to statistics from the California Judicial
Council.[41] In a small sample, a report computed that the conviction rate for felony trials in San Francisco
County in the first three months of 2010 was just 53%.[41] San Francisco has historically had one of the lowest
conviction rates in the state; the county is known for a defendant-friendly jury pool.[42][41]

In 2012, Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo ruled that San Francisco District Attorney Harris'
office violated defendants' rights by hiding damaging information about a police crime lab technician, and was
indifferent to demands that it account for its failings.[43]

Hate crimes and civil rights

Harris created a special Hate Crimes Unit as San Francisco District Attorney. She focused on hate crimes
against LGBT children and teens in schools. She convened a national conference to confront the "gay-
transgender panic defense", which has been used to justify violent hate crimes.[44] Harris supports same-sex
marriage in California and opposed both Proposition 22 and Proposition 8.[45]

In 2004, The National Urban League honored Harris as a "Woman of Power", and she received the Thurgood
Marshall Award from the National Black Prosecutors Association in 2005. In her campaign for California
Attorney General, she received the endorsements of numerous groups, including EMILY's List, California
Legislative Black Caucus, Asian American Action Fund, Black Women Organized for Political Action, the
National Women's Political Caucus, Mexican American Bar Association, and South Asians for Opportunity.[46]

Police department laboratory and disclosure failures

During Harris' tenure, the District Attorney's Office had multiple issues with the reliability of tests from the
police department's crime lab.[47] San Francisco Police Department drug lab technician Deborah Madden
admitted to taking amounts of cocaine from evidence samples in the police department's crime lab. The testing
unit of the police department lab was shut down on March 9, 2010. As a result of Madden's actions, hundreds
of drug cases were dismissed or discharged. While Harris's office was aware of troubling issues at the police
department's drug lab months before the issue became public, the entire scope of the issues did not become
clear until Madden was exposed for removing drug samples.[48] The police department later widened the
investigation into their crime lab to include cases that were already prosecuted.[49]

On May 20, 2010, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo ruled that prosecutors had
violated defendants' rights by failing to disclose damaging information about the police drug lab technician[50]
However, Judge Massullo refused to dismiss any cases, saying that all cases must be considered
individually.[43] On May 26, 2010, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a San Francisco coroner's
supervising toxicologist, Ann Marie Gordon, vouched for blood-test results in drunken-driving cases for two
years before prosecutors told defense attorneys that a Washington state court had labeled her as a "perpetrator
of fraud" while running that state's toxicology lab.[51] Although Harris said she accepted responsibility for the
incidents, she pointed out the incidents stemmed from the police department lab and not a lab within the
District Attorney's Office itself.[47]

Attorney General of California

2010 election

On November 12, 2008, Harris announced her candidacy for California Attorney General. Both of California's
United States Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, endorsed
Harris during the Democratic Party primary.[52] In the primary, she faced Chris Kelly, former Chief Privacy
Officer of Facebook; Assemblyman Alberto Torrico; Assemblyman and former military prosecutor Ted Lieu;
Assemblyman Pedro Nava; Rocky Delgadillo, former City Attorney of
Los Angeles; and Mike Schmier.[53] In the June 8, 2010, primary, she
was nominated with 33.6% of the vote. Her closest competitors, Torrico
and Kelly, had 15.6% and 15.5% respectively.[53][54]

In her campaign for California Attorney General, Harris received the

endorsements of United Farm Workers cofounder Dolores Huerta,
United Educators of San Francisco, and San Francisco Firefighters
Local 798.[46] She also received the endorsement of Antonio
Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles.[55] In the general election, she Harris speaking at a US Department
faced Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley. On election of Justice event
night, November 2, 2010, Cooley prematurely declared victory, but
many ballots remained uncounted. On November 24, as the count advanced, Harris was leading by more than
55,000 votes, and Cooley conceded.[56] On January 3, 2011, Harris became the first female,[26] African
American,[55][57] and Indian American attorney general in California.[58][59]

In 2012, she sent a letter to 100 mobile app developers asking them to comply with California law with respect
to privacy issues.[60] If any developer of an application that could be used by a Californian does not display a
privacy policy statement when the application is installed, California law is broken, with a possible fine $2500
for every download. The law affects any developer anywhere in the world if the app is used by a
Californian.[61]

At the 2012 Democratic National Convention Harris gave a prime-time speech attacking Mitt Romney.[14]
During the second Obama administration, Harris was mentioned as a possible nominee for a seat on the United
States Supreme Court if a seat on that court became vacant.[62] In February 2016, The New York Times
identified her as a potential US Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.[63]

2014 election

Harris announced her intention to run for re-election in February 2014,

and filed paperwork to run on February 12. According to the office of
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Harris had raised the money
for her campaign during the previous year in 2013.[64] On August 13,
2014, she announced her endorsement of Betty Yee for California State
Controller, called her one of the state's "most knowledgeable and
responsible money managers," and said she was proud to endorse her.
Yee, in return, sang Harris's praises and called her an "outstanding
elected leader."[65] Harris also endorsed Bonnie Dumanis[66] and Sandra
Fluke.[67] Harris herself was endorsed by The Sacramento Bee,[68] Los
Angeles Daily News,[69] and The Los Angeles Times.[70]

On November 4, 2014, Harris was re-elected against Republican Ronald

Harris right, with her sister, Maya, at
Gold.[71]
San Francisco City Hall in February
2014. In September 2014, when US Attorney General Eric Holder announced
his intention to step down, Harris was speculated as being a potential
candidate as the next US Attorney General.[72] Harris addressed the speculation in a statement, days after
Holder's resignation, declining an intent to take the office and asserted she was staying in her position as
Attorney General of California.[73] Two months later, in November 2014, President Barack Obama nominated
Loretta Lynch to succeed Holder.[74] On November 10, Harris issued a statement regarding the nomination that
approved of Obama's decision, praised Lynch, and reaffirmed her choice to remain working with the California
Department of Justice.[75]

Tenure as California Attorney General

Housing

When Harris took office, California was still reeling from the effects of the subprime mortgage crisis. Harris
participated in the National Mortgage Settlement against five banks: Ally Financial, Wells Fargo, Bank of
America, Citibank, and Chase. She originally walked off the talks because she believed the deal was too
lenient. She later rejoined the talks, securing $12 billion of debt reduction for the state's homeowners and $26
billion overall.[76] Other parts of the funding would go to state housing counseling services and legal help for
struggling homeowners and forgiving the debt of over 23,000 homeowners who agreed to sell their homes for
less than the mortgage loan.[77]

Later, she introduced the California Homeowner's Bill of Rights in the California State Legislature, a package
of several bills that would give homeowners more "options when fighting to keep their home". It would ban the
practices of "dual-tracking" (processing a modification and foreclosure at the same time) and robo-signing, and
provide homeowners with a single point of contact at their lending institution. It would also give the California
Attorney General more power to investigate and prosecute financial fraud and to convene special grand juries
to prosecute multi-county crimes instead of prosecuting a single crime county-by-county.[78] The CA
Homeowner Bill of Rights went into effect on January 1, 2013.[79] The Sacramento Bee reported on one of the
first cases of a homeowner using the bill to stop Bank of America from foreclosing on his home.[80]

Prison conditions and sentencing reform

After the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Plata (2011) declared California's prisons so overcrowded
they inflicted cruel and unusual punishment, Harris fought federal court supervision, explaining "I have a
client, and I don't get to choose my client."[14]

Harris refused to take any position on criminal sentencing-reform initiatives California Proposition 36, 2012
and California Proposition 47 (2014), arguing it would be improper because her office prepares the ballot
booklets.[14] Former California Attorney General John Van de Kamp considered her explanation "baloney."[14]

Daniel Larsen case

On August 24, 2012, the Los Angeles Times published an editorial calling on Harris to release Daniel Larsen
from prison.[81] Larsen, who was sentenced to 28 years to life under California's three strikes laws for
possession of a concealed weapon in 1999, was declared "actually innocent" by a federal judge in 2009 and
ordered released. Evidence in favor of Larsen included that of a former chief of police and the actual owner of
the knife; Larsen's original lawyer, who failed to call a single witness, has since been disbarred.[82] Larsen
remained in prison because Harris's office objected to his release on the grounds that he missed the deadline to
file his writ of habeas corpus. The California Innocence Project, which had taken up Larsen's case, said this
amounted to a paperwork technicality. The Times editorial stated that if Harris was not willing to release
Larsen, Governor Jerry Brown should pardon him. In March 2013, Larsen was released on bond with the case
on appeal by order of Attorney General Harris "on technical grounds".[82] In September 2013, the Ninth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, and on January 27, 2014, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's
Office dismissed the charge.[83]

County prosecutors' misconduct

In 2015, Harris defended convictions obtained by county prosecutors who had inserted a false confession into
an interrogation transcript, committed perjury, and withheld evidence.[14] Federal appeals court Judge Alex
Kozinski threw out the convictions, telling Harris's lawyers, "Talk to the attorney general and make sure she
understands the gravity of the situation."[14]

In March 2015 a California superior courts judge ordered Harris to take over a criminal case after Orange
County, California District Attorney Tony Rackauckas was revealed to have illegally employed jailhouse
informants and concealed evidence.[14] Harris refused, appealing the order and defending Rackauckas.[14]
Harris appealed the dismissal of an indictment when it was discovered a Kern County, California prosecutor
perjured in submitting a falsified confession as court evidence. Harris asserted that prosecutorial perjury was
not sufficient to demonstrate prosecutorial misconduct. In the case,[84] Harris argued that only abject physical
brutality would warrant a finding of prosecutorial misconduct and the dismissal of an indictment, and that
perjury was not sufficient.[85]

Bureau of Children's Justice

On February 12, 2015, Harris announced that she would start a new agency called the Bureau of Children's
Justice. The bureau would work on issues such as foster care, the juvenile justice system, school truancy, and
childhood trauma. Harris appointed special assistant attorney general Jill Habig to head the agency.[86]

Mitrice Richardson case

In February 2016 it was revealed that the Attorney General would open a criminal investigation into the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department handling of the Mitrice Richardson case. The decision by Attorney
General Kamala Harris came about after her initial refusal to look into the case[87][88] resulted in public outcry
and the Richardson's family and supporters submitting over 500 pages of evidence.[87] Mitrice Richardson was
a 24-year old African American woman who was released from the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department in
the middle of the night without any means of fending for herself. Her body was later found in isolated canyon,
leaving the family with many unanswered questions.[89] On December 30, 2016, results of the criminal
investigation into the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department handling of the Mitrice Richardson case
concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support criminal prosecution of anyone involved in the
handling of the case.[90]

U.S. Senate
2016 election

After Democratic United States Senator Barbara Boxer announced that

she intended to retire from the United States Senate at the end of her
term in 2016, after which she would have been California's junior
senator for 24 years, Harris was the first candidate to declare her
intention to run for Boxer's Senate seat. Media outlets reported that
Harris would run for Senate on the same day that Gavin Newsom,
California's lieutenant governor and a close political ally of Harris, Harris campaign logo during the
announced he would not seek to succeed Boxer.[91] She officially United States Senate election in
announced the launch of her campaign on January 13, 2015.[92] California, 2016

After holding a flurry of fundraisers in both California and Washington,

D.C., Harris was reported to have raised $2.5 million for her campaign.[93] In December, the National Journal
released a story describing Harris' use of funds on hotels, the laying off of campaign staff and the inordinate
totals, which had contributed to her money on hand being closer to that of another candidate, Loretta Sanchez,
who had $1.6 million.[94][95]

Harris was a frontrunner from the beginning of her campaign. In January 2015, weeks after Harris announced
her campaign, a survey by Public Policy Polling showed Harris leading by 41% to former Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa's 16%, who was seen as a potential candidate.[96] In May, a Field Poll was released,
showing that although 58% of likely voters did not have a favored candidate, Harris was most preferred out of
the field, with 19%.[97] October saw the release of a Field Poll with Harris at 30%, fellow Democratic
candidate Loretta Sanchez in second place at 17%, the former having increased her support by 11% since the
Field Poll in May despite being noted by The Sacramento Bee as not being active in campaigning since
appearing at the California Democratic Party's convention.[98]
In late February 2016, the California Democratic Party voted at its state convention to endorse Harris, who
received 78% of the vote, 18% more than the 60% needed to secure the endorsement.[99][100] The party
endorsement did not secure any candidate a place in the general election, as all candidates would participate in
one primary election in June with the top 2 candidates from any party would advance to the general
election.[100] Harris participated in debates with the other major candidates for the seat, her front-runner status
causing her to be at the center of discussion.[101][102] Governor Jerry Brown endorsed Harris on May 23.[103]
Harris came in first place on primary day, June 7, with 40% of the votes, entering runoff with fellow
Democratic candidate Loretta Sanchez.[104] On July 19, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden
endorsed Harris.[105]

In the June 2016 primary election, with results detailed at the county level, Harris won 48 of 58 counties. Harris
won seven counties with more than 50% of the vote: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo,
Santa Cruz, and Sonoma. The highest percentage was San Francisco, with 70.4% of the vote.[106][107] She
faced Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, also a Democrat, in the general election. This assured that the seat
would stay in Democratic hands; it was the first time a Republican did not appear in a general election for the
Senate since California began directly electing Senators in 1914.[108]

In the November 2016 election, Harris defeated Sanchez with 62 percent of the vote, carrying all but four
counties.[109] Following her victory, Harris promised to protect immigrants from the policies of President-elect
Donald Trump.[110]

Following her election to the United States Senate, Harris announced her intention to remain California's
Attorney General through the end of 2016 and resign shortly before being sworn in as Senator on January 3,
2017.[111] Governor Jerry Brown announced his intention to nominate Congressman Xavier Becerra as her
successor.[112]

In November 2016, Mother Jones magazine named Harris as one of "11 Democrats Who Could Defeat
President Trump in 2020".[113]

Tenure

On January 21, 2017, a day after President Trump was sworn into office, Harris called the message of Trump's
inaugural address "dark" when speaking during the Women's March on Washington.[114] On January 28,
following Trump signing the Protection Of The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States
executive order which saw terror-prone countries' denizens barred from entering the US for 90 days, Harris
dubbed it a "Muslim ban".[115] In early February, Harris spoke in opposition to Trump's cabinet picks Betsy
DeVos, for Secretary of Education,[116] and Jeff Sessions, for United States Attorney General.[117] Later that
month, in her first speech on the senate floor, Harris spent 12 minutes critiquing Trump's immigration
policies.[118] In early March, Harris called on Attorney General Sessions to resign, after it was reported that
Sessions spoke twice with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.[119] On March 14, Harris
claimed repealing the Affordable Care Act would send the message of health care being a "privilege" rather
than a "civil right".[120]

On June 7, 2017, Harris garnered media attention for her questioning of Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney
General, over the role he played in the May 2017 firing of James Comey, the Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.[121] The prosecutorial nature of her questioning caused Senator John McCain, an ex officio
member of the Intelligence Committee, and Senator Richard Burr, the committee chairman, to interrupt Harris
and request that she be more respectful of the witness;[122] other Democrats on the committee pointed out that
they had asked similarly tough questions, but had not been interrupted.[122] On June 13, Harris questioned Jeff
Sessions, the Attorney General, on the same topic;[123] Harris was again interrupted by McCain and Burr.[124]
Sessions stated that Harris' mode of questioning "makes me nervous";[124] other Democratic members of the
committee again pointed out that Harris was the only senator whose questioning was interrupted with an
admonishment from the chairman.[124] Burr's singling out of Harris sparked suggestion in the news media that
his behavior was sexist, with commentators arguing that Burr would not treat a male Senate colleague in a
similar manner.[125] Other commentators suggested that treating Harris differently than other members of the

Intelligence Committee is evidence of racism.[126] In addition, when CNN pundit Jason Miller described Harris
Intelligence Committee is evidence of racism.[126] In addition, when CNN pundit Jason Miller described Harris
as "hysterical", Kirsten Powers, who was taking part in the same on air segment, told Miller that his use of the
term to describe Harris was sexist, and that he would not describe male Senators in the same manner.[127]

On June 14, 2017, Harris and fellow Democratic Senators Heidi Heitkamp, Maggie Hassan and Claire
McCaskill appeared to ignore Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Asra Nomani, female human rights activists, when they
testified about Islamism and Muslim extremism at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs.[128] This caused Ali and Nomani to respond through a New York Times
editorial, in which they asked when female senators would include Muslim women in the debate about women's
rights.[129]

Committee assignments
Committee on the Budget
Committee on Environment and Public Works
Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management
Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management
Select Committee on Intelligence

Source: Los Angeles Times

Caucus memberships

Congressional Black Caucus

Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues

Political positions
Gun control

Harris has been a vocal proponent for gun control her entire career. While serving as District Attorney in
Alameda County, Harris recruited other District Attorneys and filed an amicus brief in District of Columbia v.
Heller, arguing that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual's right to own firearms.[130] Harris
also supported San Francisco's proposition H, which would have prohibited most firearms within city
limits.[131]

Death penalty

Harris is opposed to the death penalty, but has said that she would review each case individually.[132] Her
position was tested in April 2004, when SFPD Officer Isaac Espinoza was murdered in the Bayview district.
Harris announced that she would not seek the death penalty for the man accused of his killing. The decision
evoked protests from the San Francisco Police Officers Association, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and others.[14]
Those who supported her decision not to seek the death penalty included San Francisco Supervisors Tom
Ammiano and Sophie Maxwell, in whose district the murder occurred.[133] The jury found the convicted killer,
David Hill, guilty of second-degree murder, although the prosecutor, Harry Dorfman, had sought a first-degree
murder conviction.[134] The defense had argued that Hill thought Espinoza was a member of a rival gang, and
that the murder was not premeditated. Hill was given the maximum sentence for the conviction, life without the
possibility of parole.[134]
Harris's position against the death penalty was tested again in the case of Edwin Ramos, an illegal immigrant
and alleged MS-13 gang member who was accused of murdering Tony Bologna and his sons Michael and
Matthew.[34] On September 10, 2009, Harris announced she would seek life in prison without the possibility of
parole rather than the death penalty in the Ramos case.[135]

Harris has expressed the belief that life without possibility of parole is a better, and more cost-effective,
punishment.[136] According to the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, the death
penalty conservatively costs $137 million per year.[137] If the system were changed to life without possibility of
parole, the annual costs would be approximately $12 million per year.[137] Harris noted that the resulting
surplus could put 1,000 more police officers into service in San Francisco alone.[136]

When in 2014, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney declared capital punishment in California
unconstitutional, Harris reviewed the case.[14]

Immigration

Harris has been vocal in the immigration debate, supporting San Francisco's immigration policy of not
inquiring about immigration status in the process of a criminal investigation.[138] Harris argues that it is
important that immigrants be able to talk with law enforcement without fear.[139]

Abortion

Prior to joining the United States Senate, Harris had a 100 percent rating from pro-choice group NARAL.[140]
In 2016, after hidden-camera videos were released accusing healthcare provider Planned Parenthood of
illegally selling fetal tissue, Kamala Harris authorized the seizure of an anti-abortion activist's laptop, ID cards,
and some other property.[140][141]

Education

In interviews with Matt Lauer on The Today Show and local KGO-TV, Harris argued for treating "habitual and
chronic truancy" among children in elementary school as a crime committed by the parents of truant children.
She argues that there is a direct connection between habitual truancy in elementary school and crime later in
life.[142][143] She has received the endorsement of the California Federation of Teachers.[46]

Environment

During her time as San Francisco District Attorney, Harris created the Environmental Justice Unit in the San
Francisco District Attorney's Office[144] and prosecuted several industries and individuals for pollution, most
notably U-Haul, Alameda Publishing Corporation, and the Cosco Busan oil spill. She also advocated for strong
enforcement of environmental protection laws.[145]

Financial crimes

Harris has prosecuted numerous financial crimes throughout her career, particularly those affecting elders,
those involving use of high-technology, and identity theft.[146] While running for attorney general, she said she
would crack down on predatory lending and other financial crimes.[147]

Personal life
While she was an Alameda County Deputy District Attorney in the 1990s, she dated Willie Brown, then
Speaker of the California State Assembly. They broke up shortly after he was elected Mayor of San
Francisco.[148]
On April 7, 2014, Harris announced that she was engaged to be married to California attorney Douglas
Emhoff,[149] the partner-in-charge at Venable LLP's Los Angeles office.[150] They married on August 22, 2014,
in Santa Barbara, California; she was 49 at the time.[151] Harris's sister is Maya Harris, MSNBC political
analyst, and her brother-in-law is Tony West, General Counsel of PepsiCo, Inc. and former U.S. Justice
Department senior official. Harris has one niece, as well as two stepchildren, one in college and one in high
school.[152] Emhoff was formerly divorced.

See also
List of Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans in the United States Congress
List of African-American United States Senators
Women in the United States Senate

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External links
Kamala Harris official U.S. Senate website
Campaign website
Kamala Harris at Project Vote Smart
Works by or about Kamala D. Harris in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Appearances on C-SPAN

Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Profile at Project Vote Smart
Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress
 Legal offices
Preceded by District Attorney of San Francisco Succeeded by
Terence Hallinan 20042011 George Gascn
Succeeded by
Preceded by Attorney General of California
Kathleen Kenealy
Jerry Brown 20112017
Acting

U.S. Senate
U.S. Senator (Class 3) from California
Preceded by
2017present Incumbent
Barbara Boxer
Served alongside: Dianne Feinstein

Current U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)

Preceded by United States Senators by seniority Succeeded by
Maggie Hassan 97th John N. Kennedy

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kamala_Harris&oldid=792674277"

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