Just a few weeks ago, it looked like Joe Biden’s presidential campaign was done. Now, after a drastic change in the candidate’s fortunes on Super Tuesday, we’re already imagining what the cabinet of the new favorite for the Democratic nomination would look like if he wins the White House. And at least as far as attorney general is concerned, Biden’s possible cabinet is frightening indeed.
As reported by the Washington Examiner, both Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat who just endorsed Biden, and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates are being considered as possible picks to head the Justice Department. As far as Harris is concerned, this speculation is only further fueled by how she just pulled a complete 180-degree reversal and went from lobbing charges of racism at Biden to endorsing him for the nomination. But let’s be clear: Regardless of however you may feel about a Biden administration, the prospect of Harris as attorney general should terrify you.
@SallyQYates, a career federal prosecutor, was fired by @realDonaldTrump after she refused to enforce the administration’s travel ban.@JoeBiden might tap her for Attorney General.https://t.co/EbARfHFAlw
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 9, 2020
The former California state attorney general has already shown herself to be an overzealous cop willing to trample over the rights of innocent and disadvantaged people and abuse her prosecutorial power for political gain. The prospect of handing Harris the reins to the DOJ should give pause to anyone remotely concerned with civil liberties or bothered by miscarriages of justice. That the Biden camp would even consider such an atrocious pick raises serious questions about its judgment.
Let’s recap Harris’s nightmare tenure as California attorney general.
She once laughed in the face of a journalist who asked her about legalizing marijuana and prosecuted untold numbers of nonviolent offenders for drug possession as attorney general despite admitting to having smoked marijuana herself. Harris’s office also tried to keep inmates locked up not for any criminal purposes but rather so the state could maintain its supply of cheap labor. Yes, seriously.
Harris also fought to uphold wrongful convictions obtained through illegal means. And she defended cash bail, a manifestly unfair system that imprisons people based on their relative level of wealth, not the seriousness of their crime, as they await trial.
Oh, and don’t forget about all the single mothers Harris gleefully prosecuted for their children’s truancy (because putting parents in jail surely helps the situation). According to the New York Times, “Ms. Harris also championed state legislation under which parents whose children were found to be habitually truant in elementary school could be prosecuted, despite concerns that it would disproportionately affect low-income people of color.”
As fellow 2020 contender Tulsi Gabbard put it in her debate-stage takedown of Harris, “When you were in a position to make a difference, you did not. The people who suffered under your reign as a prosecutor, you owe them an apology.” Gabbard is right: Harris deserves denunciation for her atrocious record as a prosecutor — not a promotion to the highest prosecutor job in the land.
