THIS is a progressive prosecutor.

[bigtree]

from the Advocate:


Kamala Harris Single-Handedly Changed the Course of LGBTQ History

Harris is now a freshman U.S. senator and one of the front-runners for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Her 2010 squeaker victory not only changed the trajectory of her life, but that of millions of LGB Californians. One of the signature issues Harris campaigned on in 2010 was her opposition to Proposition 8, the infamous voter-approved state constitutional amendment that snatched marriage rights away from California's same-sex couples. Cooley was a proponent of Prop. 8 and promised to defend it against the numerous individuals and equality organizations suing to kill it.

Harris, along with then-incoming governor Jerry Brown, refused to defend the initiative, which was ruled unconstitutional by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in August of that year.

“It would be inappropriate for a state on the verge of bankruptcy to use all of those resources to defend a law found to be unconstitutional,” Harris told The Advocate in September 2010.

Even with Harris and Brown (and Arnold Schwarzenegger before him) refusing to stand by Prop. 8, marriage equality opponents were undeterred. The individuals behind ProtectMarriage.com — the group that placed Prop. 8 on the 2008 ballot — appealed Walker's decision to the Ninth Circuit, which upheld his ruling. Then the antigay group tried to get that appeal looked at by a larger group of Ninth Circuit judges, but that was denied. Next up was the Supreme Court.

"What I would love to see is the highest court in the land ultimately make a decision, and the right decision," Harris told The Advocate in June 2012. "That would be to find that Prop. 8 is a violation of equal protection under the Constitution, and to stop denying LGBT people the right to marry."

The Supreme Court decided in late 2012 to take the case, now called Hollingsworth v. Perry. Instead of an attorney general arguing for the voter-approved initiative, a motley crew of homophobes tried to convince the high court that Judge Walker's decision harmed them. The court, in a 5-4 ruling issued in June 2013, disagreed, saying the Prop. 8 proponents lacked standing in the case and should not have been allowed to appeal Walker's decision.

Equality California executive director Rick Zbur sees Harris's win as monumental for California's LGBTQ citizens.

"Senator Harris is a tried-and-true ally to the LGBTQ community, and she has been an effective advocate for civil rights and social justice throughout her career," Zbur tells The Advocate. "It's hard to overstate the impact that her 2010 victory had on the fight for marriage equality. If she hadn't won and Steve Cooley had been given a chance to defend Proposition 8 — mooting the issue of standing — there's a very real possibility that the Supreme Court would have overturned Judge Walker's ruling and delayed the freedom to marry for millions of Californians by at least another two years. I think if you were to ask the couples who married in the weeks and months following the Supreme Court's decision, they'd agree that Kamala's principled stand made all the difference."

Vox:

...as DA from 2004 to 2011, Harris opposed both Proposition 22 and Proposition 8, which limited marriage to one man and one woman. Though they passed in 2000 and 2008, respectively, both were struck down while she was in office. As San Francisco DA, Harris also created a Hate Crimes Unit aimed at prosecuting hate crimes committed against LGBTQ teens in school.

Harris’s early support of marriage equality in California directly laid the legal groundwork for the US Supreme Court’s decision in 2012 that same-sex couples have the right to marry. The Court cited California’s success in striking down Prop 8 in its opinion. Within hours of the decision, plaintiffs to the Supreme Court case Kris Perry and Sandy Stier became the first gay couple to wed in San Francisco, and Harris officiated their wedding.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/16/15808396/kamala-harris-democrat-rising-star-interrupted

Progressive prosecutors do things like this.


Kamala Helps a Couple on the Edge of History:

[SouthernProgressive]

1. Good job by the courts. It was the right decision.

"Instead of an attorney general arguing for the voter-approved initiative, a motley crew of homophobes tried to convince the high court that Judge Walker's decision harmed them."

[Demsrule86]

2. What exactly as a DA and AG did Sen. Harris actually do in this situation?

She needs to respond to the Tulsi's accusations made during the debate. I am sure she can do a good job. I don't see how this helps with that.

[mcar]

3. Maybe read the OP first

Just a thought.

[tonedevil]

4. That's not likely. /nt

[mcar]

5. I gotta try

[Demsrule86]

8. Meaning no disrespect, but did you read the entire article? it wasn't particularly

flattering to Sen. Harris. Thanks for the information though ...some of it was new to me.

[Demsrule86]

7. I read it ...all of it. I would love to see her explain her

time as DA or AG, as pertains to the debate but she hasn't done this.

I know for example that she is exaggerating the deal she got with the banks and that Gov. Brown diverted the money to fill gaps in the budget...thus the homeowners received little...she had a great deal of leverage as California had a huge rate of foreclosures but IMHO did not use this advantage well...she got a better deal than others but not great.

Now, the college thing was maybe helpful...she didn't win any money for affected students as the company was in bankruptcy...but possibly some of the student loans were forgiven...but your article discusses her decision not to to after Trump university as inexplicable...and notes she took donations from Trump (AG office) in 2003 and 2011...this is from your article which I did read as you can see. She said the money was donated to charity... but why not go after the fraudster Trump?

Again, this is from your posted article...Not a good look for a progressive prosecutor.

"In 2014, BuzzFeed reported that the attorney general’s office lawyer had unsuccessfully argued against the release of eligible nonviolent prisoners from California's overcrowded prisons because the state wanted to keep them as a source of state labor. The federal judges disagreed with this argument and ruled against Harris’s lawyers.

Harris came under fire again in 2016 for signing off on California Gov. Jerry Brown’s sweeping prison reform ballot initiative that would repeal determinate sentencing laws and offer parole programs to inmates in state-run prisons. The state District Attorneys Association alleged that it was forced through without enough time for public comment. That year, Harris’s AG office was also the subject of a 2016 investigation by the Intercept into prosecutorial misconduct and informant misuse."

As for, LGBTQ issues...she has been somewhat better but it was left up to the courts...so I can't see it as a personal accomplishment...but the article you posted does not show a progressive prosecutor IMHO...and there are other issues not addressed in this article that will be at some point. It is interesting to me that this article really does not show Sen. Harris in a favorable light when you look at the details. If people read it...as I did...it will not help her candidacy.

[tonedevil]

10. You don't like anyone...

who would dare challenge VP Biden that much is obvious from the numerous of your's I have read on DU. The constant one sidedness of your posts makes it impossible to think you objective. I will wait until next year to see who is still standing before I even begin to think about supporting any candidate, but I will be happy with quite a few of the possibilities as they stand now.

[Demsrule86]

11. I support Biden because I think he can win...and I like him...there is nothing wrong with that.

I find the attacks on busing and the rest during the debates just wrong and unfair...and I really disliked what I consider the manipulative aspect to the attacks during the first debate. I have a right to my opinion; However, you did not address my post which detailed my concerns with Sen. Harris's time as AG and DA. Perhaps you could address this. The article posted was not entirely positive for the Senator.

[SidDithers]

12. +1...nt

Sid

[obamanut2012]

14. +1

[ismnotwasm]

15. +1

[Demsrule86]

6. I read it...it happened during her term...but can't see it as an accomplishment...not re-reading it.

You could have listed one thing...and didn't. I didn't see anything that she specifically did either.

[obamanut2012]

13. No one needs to respond to any "Tulsi accusations," ever n/t