Can a U.S. Senate candidate really be an impartial Attorney General?
Kamala Harris proved once again that she has no intention of even trying. The job of an Attorney General is to administer justice – blind justice. That requires this very special office-holder to be neutral on all that comes before her or him. Indeed, there are only two offices in California where partisanship cannot be allowed in any form: the Secretary of State who administers our elections and Attorney General who administers our justice.
Simply put, Kamala Harris is incapable of being neutral. In 2004, as the San Francisco District Attorney, where neutrality is also required, despite a lack of precedent for not seeking the death penalty in a case where a police officer was killed, Harris refused to do so in the slaying of San Francisco Police Officer Isaac Espinoza.
Also as the San Francisco District Attorney, the Attorney General elect Harris refused to defend Prop 8, the voter approved ban on gay marriage. She made that legally dubious decision because she did not personally believe the ban was constitutional.
In 2014, as the Associated Press reported, a Superior Court judge ruled that “five laws violated the California Constitution by depriving some of the state’s 6.2 million students of a quality education. He’d earlier said the system ‘shocks the conscience.’” Rather than fight to preserve the constitutional ruling, Harris appealed the ruling in what was clearly a rebuke of public employee unions – unions that donate to her campaigns.
In 2015, Harris, a fervent supporter of Planned Parenthood and they of her, started an inquiry into the Center for Medical progress videos that exposed the activities at their clinics. In 2016, astonishingly, Harris’ U.S. Senate site contains a page that urges voters to support Planned Parenthood.
This week, Harris doubled down and ordered a raid of David Daleiden’s home, the main activist behind the videos, in what amounted to judicial excessive force. They were only seizing documents, but somehow needed 11 agents – a force usually reserved for drug dealers.
Kamala Harris has very distinct views on the death penalty. The same can be said for her views on gay marriage, public employee unions and Planned Parenthood. She has a right to all of those views – unquestionably. However, when you take on the role of Attorney General you do not get to place those views ahead of your constitutional duties. To the contrary, you are required to administer justice blindly. That is how the American system of justice works. All those incapable of doing so, need not apply to be an Attorney General.
Today, Attorney General Kamala Harris should remove herself from any active role related to the David Daleiden probe. It is ethically astonishing that she would continue to lead an investigation into the Center for Medical Progress at the time she advertises the support of Planned Parenthood on her campaign website. This is just more proof that she works for her campaign donors, not the people, and certainly not the cause of justice.
If she does not and cannot understand the importance of her role as an elected official, it should tell California voters all they need to know about the candidate Kamala Harris.