Am I crazy to think Joe Biden’s pick of Senator Kamala Harris for his running mate bodes well for federal criminal justice reform?

As reported in this AP piece, headlined “Biden selects California Sen. Kamala Harris as running mate,” Joe Biden has finally made his VP choice. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, my Twitter feed is already chock full of criminal justice reform advocates lamenting various aspects of Senator Harris’s criminal justice reform record.  Though I understand the basis for these criticisms, I have been rooting for Harris to get the nod because I think she may have the greatest interest and greatest ability to help advance federal criminal justice reform of any of the folks Biden was seriously considering for the VP slot.

Though many had hoped she would be significantly more progressive while serving as California’s Attorney General, Harris’s track record and experience in that role will surely give her considerable insights and credibility on various issues if and whenever she gets a chance to advance reforms from the VP’s office.  Moreover, since her time in the U.S. Senate, Harris has been quite vocal about the need for criminal justice reform and has likely built many relationships with Senators on both sides of the aisle that might enable her to play an important role in building bipartisan support for various reform initiatives.

Most fundamentally, I want to believe that Senator Harris is likely to be among those most likely to be seriously committed to making progress on criminal justice reform. Someone like Susan Rice would likely be most concerned with foreign affairs in the VP role, and someone like Elizabeth Warren would likely to be most concerned with economic issues.  Harris surely will be and will need to be concerned with lots of issues if she is elected as VP, but I have an inkling that she will really want to help advance some form of federal criminal justice reform early in her tenure.

Last but not least, I can think of at least one notable former California AG who ended up having an extraordinary impact on criminal justice reform (and lots more) after being picked for an important nation position.

Some prior posts on Kamala Harris:

• Senator Harris and Representative Jeffries write to AG Barr to express “concern about the process for transferring incarcerated individuals to home confinement” (from 2020)
• Senator Kamala Harris releases her plan “to fundamentally transform our criminal justice system” (from 2019)
• Senators Orrin Hatch and Kamala Harris write to AG Jeff Sessions to push for more medical marijuana research (from 2018)
• Five prominent congressional Democrats write in opposition to federal statutory prison reform without broader sentencing reform (from 2018)
• Senators Kamala Harris and Rand Paul make the case for bail reforms (from 2017)
• Interesting review of the (too cautious?) work of California’s Attorney General (from 2014)