Much like Mr. Smith, Ms. Kim Kardashian went to Washington. This isn’t Kim's first trip. She met with then-President Donald Trump in 2020. She returned to a Biden White House on Thursday April 25, 2024.
This time around, Kim participated in a criminal justice reform round table talk. Kim was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, White House public engagement director Steve Benjamin, and many former inmates who were recently pardoned. The reality star first registered with the California State Bar in 2018.
The vice president is grateful for Kim’s activism. "I want to thank Kim for your advocacy and for using your platform in a way that has really lifted up the importance of talking about and being dedicated to second chances," she stated. There was no mention of Taylor Swift.
Kim and the vice president spoke at length about her work on the behalf of Alice Marie Johnson. Kim successfully convinced President Trump to pardon the first-time nonviolent drug offender who was serving a life sentence. Kim’s advocacy didn’t stop there. She also worked to get changes for several others who were wrongly convicted or received seemingly severe sentences.
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Kim expressed she was grateful to hear about Beverly Holcy, Jason Hernandez, Bobby Darrell Lowery, and Jesse Mosley’s journeys to freedom. They are all newly pardoned inmates. "I am super honored to be here to hear your stories today and I think it's so important to share them and amplify them because there are so many people that are in your position that could use the inspiration," she stated. "I'm just here to help and spread the word."
Vice President Harris wants to work to change how drug charges are meted out. She does not think marijuana should land a person in prison and has worked to correct this. "For example, on marijuana, we have pardoned all people for federal convictions for simple marijuana possession," she explained. "Many of you have heard me say I just don't think people should have to go to jail for smoking weed. And these pardons have been issued as an extension of that approach."
It was Kim’s advocacy work that inspired her to study law. "It was actually in this very room that I was in years ago, my first clemency meeting, that really inspired me to take a journey," Kim recalled. "I didn't know a whole lot, and I was inspired to go to law school and really further my education to see what I can do to help."
Kim passed the First-Year Law Students' Examination in December 2019. This is known as the “baby bar exam.” Her late father Robert Kardashian was a lawyer who famously defended the late NFL player O.J. Simpson. His legacy was her inspiration.
Kim told the Wall Street Journal in 2021 she even talked about it with her father before he died. “We talked about it for sure when I was in college, but I wasn’t that serious,” she recalled. She has big plans these days. “Hopefully one day I can start a law firm where we can help people pro bono and hire people who were formerly incarcerated. I don’t see me floating on a yacht. I think I’ll always feel good when I’m working.”
