Ms. Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors.”
Kamala Harris takes hits on her criminal justice record
By Maeve Reston and Kyung Lah, CNN
Updated at 12:47 PM ET, Fri January 18, 2019
(CNN) — As Kamala Harris positions for a likely presidential run that could be announced as early as this week, the California senator fielded an early hit on her criminal justice record Thursday in the form of a scathing opinion piece in The New York Times.
Digging into Harris’ long and complex record as district attorney of San Francisco and attorney general of California, University of San Francisco associate law professor Lara Bazelon took central aim at Harris’ contention that she was a “progressive prosecutor,” who sought to right injustice and change the criminal justice system from within.
“Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as district attorney and then the state’s attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent,” wrote Bazelon, the former director of Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent. “Most troubling, Ms. Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors.”
In an interview Thursday, Bazelon said that she was inspired to write the piece after Harris devoted a chapter in her new memoir, “The Truths We Hold,” to the idea that she was a progressive prosecutor.
“For some of us, that was just too much to bear. Because that’s not her record,” Bazelon said. “I think that the decisions she made had an eye toward running for higher office — had an eye toward trying to walk this tightrope of not getting law enforcement and police and prosecutors upset with her.”
“For some of us, that was just too much to bear. Because that’s not her record,” Bazelon said. “I think that the decisions she made had an eye toward running for higher office — had an eye toward trying to walk this tightrope of not getting law enforcement and police and prosecutors upset with her.”
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