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Home , Kamala Harris

UC HastingsUniversity of College of the Law Toward Justice for All

As California Attorney General, Kamala Harris ’89 takes on the state’s toughest challenges

Immigration Now - The UC Hastings community looks at this spring 2013 timely issue from multiple perspectives { trailblazer }

Toward Justice for All [ In targeting perpetrators of human trafficking and protecting ] foreclosure victims, California Attorney General Kamala Harris ’89 is shaking up the status quo. ]

mong the multitude before assuming her statewide of rising stars in post; up to big banks in California legal circles securing safeguards for California and national politics, foreclosure victims; addressing the AAttorney General Kamala D. Democratic National Convention Harris ’89 is capturing lots of and supporting the reelection of attention—and with good rea- President , with son. Pragmatic and photogenic, whom she has personal and politi- she is the first woman, the first cal ties. African American, and the first Even while media pundits South Asian to hold the post as the speculate that she may be a pos- state’s top prosecutor. sible candidate for or a At wide-ranging venues and post in the Obama administration, in challenging circumstances, Harris is decidedly keeping her Harris has made her mark as both attention focused on her current articulate and audacious—scoring office. Always committed and stunning electoral victories, first as conscientious, she doggedly in defends the interests of the people

20 spring 2013 “We must counter the ruthlessness of human traffickers with resolve and collaboration. Law enforcement must continue to train, gather data, and shut down the trafficking opera- tions in our state.”

UC HASTINGS 21 “We need to be smart in the ways we are addressing immigration, and it needs to be based on what is in the best interests of our community, not driven by ideology and emotion.”

of California—protecting the rights social unrest and political activ- conversations had a tremendous of consumers, fighting to preserve ism of the 1960s and ‘70s and influence on me.” the state’s natural resources, and describes her divorced parents as supporting efforts to ensure mar- civil rights activists. Her father, a From College Activist riage equality for all Californians Jamaican immigrant, went on to to Career Prosecutor (her office recently filed an amicus teach at Stanford. Her Having grown up “surrounded by brief with the U.S. Supreme Court mother, who raised her, was Indian people who were always pas- opposing Prop. 8). and became a leading breast can- sionately fighting for this thing cer researcher. called ‘justice,’ ” Harris once told a Born to Make Waves “My [maternal] grandfather was reporter, “I was ultimately inspired No matter the case, Harris is one of the original freedom fighters to make my own contribution to driven by the law’s power to right in ,” says Harris, recalling her this noble cause through public wrongs and balance the scales of earliest memories of her family’s service.” That sense of purpose justice. As she puts it, “Lawyers periodic trips there. She had the led her first to have a profound ability and honor of joining him and his friends, in Washington, D.C., America’s responsibility to be a voice for the all retired public servants, on daily oldest historically black univer- vulnerable and the voiceless.” walks on the beach. sity, then to UC Hastings, which It’s a point of view that’s “They would debate the role suited her aspirations and lifelong virtually in her DNA. An Oakland of government and the need to bent toward activism. She served native, Harris grew up amid the fight corruption,” she says. “Those as president of the Black Law

22 spring 2013 { trailblazer }

Students Association (BLSA), in a In 2010, voters chose Harris a pure law enforcement issue, and regional post for BLSA’s national to be the state’s 32nd attorney we must address it,” says Harris. parent organization, and as an general. What has been called her “We’ve got to send victims the advocate for greater campus diver- “biggest test and success” came signal that we care.” sity as part of the Legal Education the next year, when she negoti- Other immigration-related Opportunity Program. ated an additional $12 billion in issues are also a focus of her office. After law school, Harris signed debt relief for Californians as part Harris made statewide headlines on with the Alameda County of the settlement of a 49-state suit reminding local law enforce- District Attorney’s Office as deputy against five major banks accused of ment that federal orders to turn district attorney. In 1998, she mortgage abuses. over noncriminal undocumented joined the San Francisco District immigrants aren’t mandatory. Attorney’s Office, where, among On the AG’s Agenda She also recently filed two high- other posts, she led the Career Prosecuting human trafficking is profile amicus briefs: one with Criminal Unit. She was elected high on Harris’s list of priorities, as the California Supreme Court district attorney in 2003, defeat- it has been throughout her career. supporting the admission of ing two-term incumbent Terence According to statistics released by undocumented immigrant Sergio Hallinan; she held firm to her her office, California is one of the Garcia to the state bar, and stance against the death penalty nation’s top four destination states another with the U.S. Supreme while in that post, winning an for the multibillion-dollar, modern- Court in opposition to Arizona’s unopposed second term in 2007. day slave trade. “At its core, this is legislation. Taking a big-picture view of immigration reform, this immi- grants’ daughter says she’s excited about what she sees as a con- vergence of political will, legal opinion, and public support for sweeping change. As with Brown v. Board of Education’s school desegregation, spearheaded gen- erations ago by her legal heroes , Charles Hamilton Houston, and , immigration reform may very well be the next civil rights issue to have its day in court. “I think history will also show this moment as a turning point,” she says. “It’s incumbent on every- one to consider the moment and decide what side of history they want to be on.”

UC HASTINGS 23