Misplaced Pages

#53946

57-512: After the Consolidation Act of 1856 consolidated San Francisco as a city and a county, Henry H. Byrne was elected as the first District Attorney. Twenty-seven people have held the title since Byrne, including Boudin. On January 8, 2004, Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first female , first Jamaican American , and first Indian American district attorney of San Francisco after having defeated Terence Hallinan . She would serve as

114-791: A Juris Doctor in 1989. In 1990, Harris was hired as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California , where she was described as "an able prosecutor on the way up". In 1994, Speaker of the California Assembly Willie Brown , who was then dating Harris, appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to the California Medical Assistance Commission. In February 1998, San Francisco district attorney Terence Hallinan recruited Harris as an assistant district attorney. There, she became

171-762: A historically black university in Washington, D.C. At Howard, she became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha , one of the "Divine Nine" historically black sororities. She graduated in 1986 with a degree in political science and economics. Harris then attended the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, where she served as president of its chapter of the Black Law Students Association . She graduated with

228-601: A "forceful" campaign and differentiating herself from Hallinan by attacking his performance. Harris won the election with 56% of the vote, becoming the first person of color elected district attorney of San Francisco. She ran unopposed for a second term in 2007. Within the first six months of taking office, Harris cleared 27 of 74 backlogged homicide cases. She also pushed for higher bail for criminal defendants involved in gun-related crimes, arguing that historically low bail encouraged outsiders to commit crimes in San Francisco. SFPD officers credited Harris with tightening

285-480: A Hate Crimes Unit, focusing on hate crimes against LGBT children and teens in schools, and supported A.B. 1160, the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act. As District Attorney, she created an environmental crimes unit in 2005. Harris expressed support for San Francisco's sanctuary city policy of not inquiring about immigration status in the process of a criminal investigation. In 2004, she created

342-515: A bail reform bill with Rand Paul , an election security bill with James Lankford , and a workplace harassment bill with Lisa Murkowski . Following her election as Vice President of the United States, Harris resigned from her seat on January 18, 2021, before taking office on January 20, and was replaced by California Secretary of State Alex Padilla . While in the Senate, Harris was

399-474: A death row inmate, while others did not withstand scrutiny. In the immediate aftermath of the debate, Harris fell in the polls. Over the next few months her poll numbers fell to the low single digits. Harris faced criticism from reformers for tough-on-crime policies she pursued while she was California's attorney general. In 2014, she defended California's death penalty in court. Before and during her presidential campaign, an online informal organization using

456-399: A decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America....Since taking office, you have consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance. It is neither charity, nor is it a gift to foreign governments. Our national security funding is specifically designed to promote American interests, enhance our collective security, and protect

513-717: A few years in college towns in the Midwest where her parents held teaching or research positions: Urbana, Illinois (where her sister Maya was born in 1966); Evanston, Illinois ; and Madison, Wisconsin . By 1970, the marriage had faltered, and Shyamala moved back to Berkeley with her two daughters; the couple divorced when Kamala was seven. In 1972, Donald Harris accepted a position at Stanford University; Kamala and Maya spent weekends at their father's house in Palo Alto and lived at their mother's house in Berkeley during

570-582: A male Senate colleague in a similar manner. In December, Harris called for the resignation of Senator Al Franken , writing on Twitter, "Sexual harassment and misconduct should not be allowed by anyone and should not occur anywhere." In January, Harris was appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee after Franken resigned. Later that month, she questioned Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for favoring Norwegian immigrants over others and for claiming to be unaware that Norway

627-544: A matter of public safety and pointing out that the majority of prison inmates and homicide victims are dropouts or habitual truants, she issued citations against six parents whose children missed at least 50 days of school, the first time San Francisco prosecuted adults for student truancy. Harris's office ultimately prosecuted seven parents in three years, with none jailed. By April 2009, 1,330 elementary school students were habitual or chronic truants, down 23% from 1,730 in 2008, and from 2,517 in 2007 and 2,856 in 2006. Harris

SECTION 10

#1732780203054

684-555: A meeting he may have had regarding the Mueller Investigation with a member of Kasowitz Benson Torres , the law firm founded by Donald Trump 's personal attorney, Marc Kasowitz . Kavanaugh was unable to answer and repeatedly deflected. Harris also participated in questioning the FBI director's limited scope of the investigation of Kavanaugh regarding allegations of sexual assault. She voted against his confirmation. Harris

741-410: A member of the following committees: Harris had been considered a top contender and potential front-runner for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president . In June 2018, she said she was "not ruling it out". In July 2018, it was announced that she would publish a memoir, a sign of a possible run. On January 21, 2019, Harris officially announced her candidacy for president of the United States in

798-408: A more moderate Democrat in the 2019 district attorney race, named Brooke Jenkins , a former corporate lawyer and prosecutor in the district attorney's office as Boudin's replacement. Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris (born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the 49th vice president of the United States since 2021 under President Joe Biden . She

855-601: A run for Los Angeles district attorney . After Gascón announced in 2018 that he would not seek re-election, San Francisco anticipated its first open race for district attorney since 1909, with candidates Chesa Boudin , Leif Dautch, Suzy Loftus , and Nancy Tung entering the race. After Gascón announced his resignation in October 2019 prior to the November 2019 election, Mayor London Breed appointed candidate Suzy Loftus as interim district attorney, whom Breed had endorsed in

912-673: Is a predominantly white country. Also in January, Harris and Senators Heidi Heitkamp , Jon Tester , and Claire McCaskill co-sponsored the Border and Port Security Act, legislation to mandate that U.S. Customs and Border Protection "hire, train and assign at least 500 officers per year until the number of needed positions the model identifies is filled" and require the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection to determine potential equipment and infrastructure improvements for ports of entry. In May, Harris heatedly questioned Nielsen about

969-555: Is an Afro-Jamaican who immigrated to the United States in 1961 and also enrolled in UC Berkeley, specializing in development economics . The first Black scholar to be granted tenure at Stanford University 's economics department, he has emeritus status there. Kamala's parents met in 1962 and married in 1963. The Harris family lived in Berkeley until they moved in 1966, around Kamala's second birthday. The Harrises lived for

1026-491: Is the first female U.S. vice president, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She is also the first African American and the first Asian American vice president. A member of the Democratic Party , she was the party's nominee in the 2024 presidential election , becoming the second woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party. From 2017 to 2021, she represented California in

1083-613: The 2020 presidential election . In the first 24   hours after her announcement, she tied a record set by Bernie Sanders in 2016 for the most donations raised in the day after an announcement. More than 20,000 people attended her campaign launch event in her hometown of Oakland, California, on January 27, according to a police estimate. During the first Democratic presidential debate in June 2019, Harris scolded former vice president Joe Biden for "hurtful" remarks he made, speaking fondly of senators who opposed integration efforts in

1140-660: The 2024 United States presidential election to Donald Trump . On January 9, 2011, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed SFPD Chief George Gascón as district attorney to succeed Kamala Harris , who had been elected California attorney general in November 2010 . Gascón was subsequently elected in his own right in November 2011 . On October 2, 2018, Gascón announced that he would not seek re-election, citing his mother's health. On October 3, 2019, Gascón announced that he would resign as district attorney on October 18 in order to explore

1197-519: The Intelligence Committee , and Senator Richard Burr , the committee chairman, to interrupt her and request that she be more respectful of the witness. A week later, she questioned Jeff Sessions , the attorney general , on the same topic. Sessions said her questioning "makes me nervous". Burr's singling out of Harris sparked suggestions in the news media that his behavior was sexist, with commentators arguing that Burr would not treat

SECTION 20

#1732780203054

1254-630: The Trump administration family separation policy , under which children were separated from their families when their parents were taken into custody for illegally entering the U.S. In June, after visiting one of the detention facilities near the border in San Diego, Harris became the first senator to demand Nielsen's resignation. In the September and October Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings , Harris questioned Brett Kavanaugh about

1311-596: The U.S. Senate , and was Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017. From 2004 to 2011, she served as District Attorney of San Francisco . Born in Oakland, California , Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law . She began her law career in the office of the district attorney of Alameda County . She was recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later to

1368-636: The Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan , the largest camp for Syrian refugees. In June, 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 . The prosecutorial nature of her questioning caused Senator John McCain , an ex officio member of

1425-457: The loopholes defendants had used in the past. During her campaign, Harris pledged never to seek the death penalty, and kept to this in the cases of a San Francisco Police Department officer, Isaac Espinoza, who was shot and killed in 2004, and of Edwin Ramos , an illegal immigrant and alleged MS-13 gang member who was accused of murdering a man and his two sons in 2009. Harris created

1482-518: The 1970s and working with them to oppose mandatory school bussing. Harris's support rose by between six and nine points in polls after that debate. In the second debate in August, Biden and Representative Tulsi Gabbard confronted Harris over her record as attorney general. The San Jose Mercury News assessed that some of Gabbard's and Biden's accusations were on point, such as blocking the DNA testing of

1539-460: The 2016 election , Harris called for U.S. Attorney General William Barr to testify before Congress in the interests of transparency. Two days later, Barr released a four-page "summary" of the redacted Mueller Report, which was criticized as a deliberate mischaracterization of its conclusions. Later that month, Harris was one of 12 Democratic senators led by Mazie Hirono to sign a letter questioning Barr's decision to offer "his own conclusion that

1596-402: The 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but withdrew from the race before the primaries . Biden selected her as his running mate , and their ticket defeated the incumbent Republican president and vice president, Trump and Mike Pence , in the 2020 presidential election . Presiding over an evenly split U.S. Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as President of

1653-665: The Department of Justice inspector general Michael E. Horowitz investigate whether Barr acceded to pressure from the White House to investigate Trump's political enemies. On May 5, 2019, Harris said "voter suppression" prevented Democrats Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum from winning the 2018 gubernatorial elections in Georgia and Florida ; Abrams lost by 55,000 votes and Gillum by 32,000. According to election law expert Richard L. Hasen , "I have seen no good evidence that

1710-464: The November 2019 election. Loftus served as interim district attorney from October 19, 2019, until January 8, 2020, when winning candidate Boudin took office. Chesa Boudin was sworn in as district attorney on January 8, 2020. Heavily criticized for his perceived softness on crime, Boudin was the subject of a recall election on June 7, 2022. In the recall election, 55.05% of voters supported removing him from office. Mayor London Breed , who had backed

1767-586: The President's conduct did not amount to obstruction of justice", and called for an investigation into whether Barr's summary of the Mueller report and his statements at a news conference were misleading. In April 2019, Harris was one of 34 Senate Democrats and independents to write a letter urging President Trump not to cut aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The group wrote: We encourage you to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse

San Francisco District Attorney's Office - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-692: The Privacy Enforcement and Protection Unit, focusing on cyber privacy and data breaches. California secured settlements with companies like Comcast and Houzz for privacy violations. Harris was instrumental in advancing criminal justice reform. She launched the Division of Recidivism Reduction and Re-Entry and implemented the Back on Track LA program, which provided educational and job training opportunities for nonviolent offenders. Despite her focus on reform, Harris faced criticism for defending

1881-538: The San Francisco Reentry Division. Over six years, the 200 people graduated from the program had a recidivism rate of less than 10%, compared to the 53% of California's drug offenders who returned to prison within two years of release. In 2006, as part of an initiative to reduce the city's homicide rate, Harris led a citywide effort to combat truancy for at-risk elementary school youth in San Francisco. In 2008, declaring chronic truancy

1938-514: The Senate seat the next week. She was a top contender from the beginning of her campaign. The 2016 California Senate election used California's new top-two primary format, where the top two candidates in the primary advance to the general election regardless of party. On February 27, 2016, Harris won 78% of the California Democratic Party vote at the party convention, allowing her campaign to receive financial support from

1995-561: The Senate. She cast more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president , which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act . After Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election , Harris launched her campaign with Biden's endorsement and soon became the presumptive nominee. She lost the election to Trump. Kamala Devi Harris

2052-452: The U.S. for 90 days, she condemned the order and was one of many to call it a "Muslim ban". She called White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly at home to gather information and push back against the executive order. In February, Harris spoke in opposition to Trump's cabinet picks Betsy DeVos for secretary of education and Jeff Sessions for United States Attorney General . In early March, she called on Sessions to resign, after it

2109-658: The chief of the Career Criminal Division, supervising five other attorneys, where she prosecuted homicide , burglary , robbery , and sexual assault cases—particularly three-strikes cases . In August 2000, Harris took a job at San Francisco City Hall , working for city attorney Louise Renne . Harris ran the Family and Children's Services Division, representing child abuse and neglect cases. Renne endorsed Harris during her D.A. campaign. In 2002, Harris ran for District Attorney of San Francisco , running

2166-546: The death of Roxsana Hernández, a transgender woman and immigrant who died in ICE custody. In December, Harris led a group of Democratic senators and civil rights organizations in demanding the removal of White House senior adviser Stephen Miller after emails published by the Southern Poverty Law Center revealed frequent promotion of white nationalist literature to Breitbart website editors. Before

2223-465: The first Indian American district attorney in U.S. history , and the first Jamaican American district attorney in California . Harris was re-elected in 2007 running unopposed, and was sworn in for her second term by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein . Subsequently, Harris became Attorney General of California in 2011, U.S. Senator in 2017, Vice President of the United States in 2021, and lost

2280-620: The four-page summary he had released ahead of the full report. When asked by Harris whether he had reviewed the underlying evidence before deciding not to charge Trump with obstruction of justice, Barr admitted that neither he, Rod Rosenstein , nor anyone in his office had reviewed the evidence supporting the report before making the charging decision. Harris later called for Barr to resign, accusing him of refusing to answer her questions because he could open himself up to perjury , and saying his responses disqualified him from serving as U.S. attorney general. Two days later, Harris demanded again that

2337-654: The hashtag # KHive formed to support Harris's candidacy and defend her from racist and sexist attacks. According to the Daily Dot , Joy Reid first used the term in an August 2017 tweet saying "@Dr JasonJohnson @ ZerlinaMaxwell and I had a meeting and decided it's called the K-Hive." On December 3, 2019, Harris withdrew from the 2020 presidential election, citing a shortage of funds. In March 2020, she endorsed Joe Biden for president. Attorney general of California Too Many Requests If you report this error to

San Francisco District Attorney's Office - Misplaced Pages Continue

2394-426: The office of the city attorney of San Francisco . She was elected district attorney of San Francisco in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010 , and reelected as attorney general in 2014 . Harris was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold each office. Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election , becoming

2451-649: The opening of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump on January 16, 2020, Harris delivered remarks on the floor of the Senate, stating her views on the integrity of the American justice system and the principle that nobody, including an incumbent president, is above the law. She later asked Senate Judiciary chairman Lindsey Graham to halt all judicial nominations during the impeachment trial, to which Graham acquiesced. Harris voted to convict Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Harris worked on bipartisan bills with Republican co-sponsors, including

2508-430: The party. Three months later, Governor Jerry Brown endorsed her. In the June 7 primary, Harris came in first with 40% of the vote and won with pluralities in most counties. Harris faced representative and fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez in the general election. On July 19, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden endorsed Harris. In the November 2016 election , Harris defeated Sanchez with over 60% of

2565-411: The safety of our citizens... By obstructing the use of [Fiscal Year 2018] national security funding and seeking to terminate similar funding from [Fiscal Year 2017], you are personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity. On May 1, 2019, Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee . During the hearing, he remained defiant about the misrepresentations in

2622-537: The second Black woman and first South Asian American U.S. senator. As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act , federal legalization of cannabis , and reforms to healthcare and taxation . She gained a national profile while asking pointed questions of officials within the first administration of President Donald Trump during Senate hearings, including Trump's second U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh . Harris sought

2679-552: The state's position in cases involving wrongful convictions and for her office's stance on prison labor. She continued to advocate for progressive reforms, including banning the gay panic defense in California courts and opposing Proposition 8 , the state's same-sex marriage ban. After more than 20 years as a U.S. senator from California, Senator Barbara Boxer announced on January 13, 2015, that she would not run for reelection in 2016. Harris announced her candidacy for

2736-602: The suppressive effects of strict voting and registration laws affected the outcome of the governor's races in Georgia and Florida." In July, Harris teamed with Kirsten Gillibrand to urge the Trump administration to investigate the persecution of Uyghurs in China by the Chinese Communist Party ; in this question she was joined by Senator Marco Rubio . In November, Harris called for an investigation into

2793-802: The vote, carrying all but four counties. After her victory, she promised to protect immigrants from the policies of President-elect Donald Trump and announced her intention to remain Attorney General through the end of 2016. Harris became the second Black woman and first South Asian American senator in history. As a senator, Harris advocated stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act , federal legalization of cannabis , and healthcare and taxation reforms. She became well known nationally after questioning several Trump appointees such as Jeff Sessions and Brett Kavanaugh . On January 28, after Trump signed Executive Order 13769 , barring citizens from several Muslim-majority countries from entering

2850-721: The vote. During her second term, she expanded her focus on consumer protection, securing major settlements against corporations like Quest Diagnostics , JPMorgan Chase , and Corinthian Colleges , recovering billions for California consumers. She spearheaded the creation of the Homeowner Bill of Rights to combat aggressive foreclosure practices during the housing crisis, recording multiple nine-figure settlements against mortgage servicers. Harris also worked on privacy rights. She collaborated with major tech companies like Apple , Google , and Facebook to ensure that mobile apps disclosed their data-sharing practices. She created

2907-611: The week. Shyamala was friends with African-American intellectuals and activists in Oakland and Berkeley. In 1976, she accepted a research position at the McGill University School of Medicine , and moved with her daughters to Montreal, Quebec . Kamala graduated from Westmount High School on Montreal Island in 1981. Kamala Harris attended Vanier College in Montreal in 1981–82, and then Howard University ,

SECTION 50

#1732780203054

2964-583: Was a target of the October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts . In December, the Senate passed the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act (S. 3178), sponsored by Harris. The bill, which died in the House, would have made lynching a federal hate crime. Harris supported busing for desegregation of public schools , saying, "the schools of America are as segregated, if not more segregated, today than when I

3021-454: Was born in Oakland, California , on October 20, 1964. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan (1938–2009), was a biologist who arrived in the United States from India in 1958 to enroll in graduate school in endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley . A research career of over 40 years followed, during which her work on the progesterone receptor gene led to advances in breast cancer research. Kamala's father, Donald J. Harris (1938–),

3078-471: Was elected Attorney General of California in 2010 , becoming the first woman, African American , and South Asian American to hold the office in the state's history. She took office on January 3, 2011, and was reelected in 2014 . She served until resigning on January 3, 2017, to take her seat in the United States Senate . In 2010, Harris announced her candidacy for attorney general and

3135-517: Was endorsed by prominent California Democrats, including U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi . She won the Democratic primary and narrowly defeated Republican nominee Steve Cooley in the general election. Her tenure was marked by significant efforts in consumer protection, criminal justice reform, and privacy rights. In 2014, Harris was reelected, defeating Republican nominee Ronald Gold with 58% of

3192-479: Was in elementary school." She viewed busing as an option to be considered by school districts, rather than the responsibility of the federal government. Harris was an early co-sponsor of the Green New Deal , a plan to transition the country towards generating 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030. In March 2019, after Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted his report on Russian interference in

3249-649: Was reported that Sessions, who had previously said he "did not have communications with the Russians", spoke twice with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak . In April, Harris voted against the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court . Later that month, she took her first foreign trip to the Middle East, visiting California troops stationed in Iraq and

#53946