Imagining the Progressive Prosecutor
![handle is hein.journals/mnlr105 and id is 1443 raw text is: Essay
Imagining the Progressive Prosecutor
Benjamin Levint
INTRODUCTION
In the lead-up to the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, Sen-
ator Kamala Harris's prosecutorial record became a major source of
contention.' Harris-the former San Francisco District Attorney and
California Attorney General-received significant support and media
attention that characterized her as a progressive prosecutor.2 In a
moment of increasing public enthusiasm for criminal justice reform,
Harris's rise was frequently framed in terms of her support for a more
tAssociate Professor, University of Colorado Law School. For helpful comments
and conversations, many thanks to Jeff Bellin, Rabea Benhalim, Jenny Braun, Dan Far-
bman, Kristelia Garcia, Leigh Goodmark, Aya Gruber, Carissa Byrne Hessick, Sharon
Jacobs, Margot Kaminski, Craig Konnoth, Kate Levine, Eric Miller, Justin Murray, Will
Ortman, Joan Segal, Scott Skinner-Thompson, Sloan Speck, and Ahmed White. Thanks,
as well, to the students in my Advanced Criminal Justice Seminar at Colorado Law
School whose deep ambivalence about progressive prosecution helped inspire this Es-
say. Neil Sandhu and Sara Yates provided exceptional research assistance, and the ed-
itors of the Minnesota Law Review provided invaluable editorial assistance. Copyright
© 2021 by Benjamin Levin.
1. See, e.g., Lara Bazelon, Opinion, Kamala Harris Was Not a Progressive Prose-
cutor, N.Y. TIMES (Jan. 17, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/opinion/
kamala-harris-criminal-justice.html [https://perma.cc/FDN2-JJAJ]; Sahil Kapur, Ka-
mala Harris Gambles on a Risky Embrace of Her Record as a Prosecutor, BLOOMBERG
(June 11, 2019), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-11/kamala
-harris-gambles-on-embrace-of-her-record-as-a-prosecutor; German Lopez, Kamala
Harris's Controversial Record on Criminal Justice, Explained, Vox (Aug. 12, 2020),
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/23/18184192/kamala-harris
-president-campaign-criminal-justice-record; Alex Shephard, What Kamala Harris
Didn't Say, NEW REPUBLIC (July 1, 2019), https://newrepublic.com/article/154400/
kamala-harris-defend-record [https://perma.cc/LR5E-PDZ7].
2. See, e.g., Kate Zernike, 'Progressive Prosecutor': Can Kamala Harris Square the
Circle?, N.Y. TIMES (Feb. 11, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/11/us/
kamala-harris-progressive-prosecutor.html [https://perma.cc/JY4W-E5KA]; Nicole
Allan, The Unknowable Kamala Harris: The Complicated Career ofa Self-Proclaimed Pro-
gressive Prosecutor, CAL. SUNDAY MAG. (May 22, 2019), https://story
.californiasunday.com/kamala-harris [https://perma.cc/2QDX-ALVV].
1415](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/mnlr105&div=29&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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