Karl Racine facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Karl Racine
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| Attorney General for the District of Columbia | |
| In office January 2, 2015 – January 2, 2023 |
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| Mayor | Muriel Bowser |
| Preceded by | Irvin B. Nathan |
| Succeeded by | Brian Schwalb |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Karl Anthony Racine
December 14, 1962 Port-au-Prince, Haiti |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (BA) University of Virginia (JD) |
Karl Anthony Racine (born December 14, 1962) is a Haitian-American lawyer and politician. He made history as the first person to be independently elected as the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. He held this important job from 2015 to 2023. Before becoming Attorney General, he was a top lawyer at a big law firm called Venable LLP. As Attorney General, Karl Racine became well-known for his work on cases that made sure businesses competed fairly. For example, in 2021, he started a lawsuit against Amazon about fair competition, though the case was later closed.
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Early Life and School
Karl Racine was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. When he was three years old, his family moved to Washington, D.C. to escape the government in Haiti at the time. He went to public schools until eighth grade and then graduated from St. John's College High School. He was a talented basketball player in high school.
Racine then went to the University of Pennsylvania, where he became the captain of the basketball team. He helped his team win two championships in the Ivy League, which is a group of well-known universities. He was also chosen twice for the second team all-Ivy League.
After college, Racine studied law at the University of Virginia School of Law. While there, he worked at a special clinic that offered free legal help to migrant farm workers. He said he was inspired to become a lawyer because of how lawyers helped people gain civil rights. During law school, he and his mother created the first legal dictionary that translated between Haitian Creole and English. This book was made to help Haitian immigrants in the United States understand legal terms.
Legal Career
After finishing law school in 1989, Karl Racine started working at Venable LLP. In 1992, he left to work as a public defender, which means he was a lawyer who helped people who could not afford a lawyer. Later, he returned to private law firms, handling important cases. He also worked as a lawyer for the President in the Clinton administration. He was also part of a group that helped choose judges for D.C.
In 2000, Racine went back to Venable LLP. In 2006, he was chosen to be the managing partner, which is a top leadership role at a law firm. This made him the first Black managing partner of a major law firm.
He led a team that represented a food services company called Sodexo in a large lawsuit. This case involved over 2,500 African American employees who claimed they faced unfair treatment.
After his time as D.C. Attorney General, Karl Racine joined another law firm, Hogan Lovells, as a partner specializing in lawsuits.
D.C. Attorney General
Becoming Attorney General
In July 2014, Karl Racine announced he wanted to become the D.C. Attorney General. A friend and fellow lawyer, Mark Tuohey, decided not to run and instead supported Racine, saying he was very qualified for the job.
On November 4, 2014, Racine was elected as the first Attorney General for the District of Columbia. He won with 37% of the votes, beating four other candidates.
In September 2017, Racine said he would run for reelection. He won again in the May 15 general election with a large majority of the votes. People thought he might run for mayor in 2022, but he decided not to.
Racine did not seek reelection for Attorney General in 2022.
What He Did as Attorney General
As Attorney General, Karl Racine focused on four main goals for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General (OAG):
- Making changes to the justice system for young people based on facts.
- Protecting people from unfair actions by dishonest businesses.
- Making sure there was affordable housing and protecting renters.
- Working to improve democracy and keep public officials honest.
Following the events at the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Racine asked Vice President Mike Pence to use the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution to remove President Donald Trump from office. He said Trump was not doing his job properly.
To meet his goals, Attorney General Racine helped stop the practice of always putting young people in shackles when they appeared in D.C. Superior Court. He also created more ways to help young people who had committed minor offenses get back on track. A program that helps these young people has been very successful, with nearly 80% of participants staying out of trouble. Under Racine, more young people joined this program, which helped their lives and made the community safer.
In 2015, Attorney General Racine created a special office within the OAG called the Office of Consumer Protection. This office teaches people about their rights and takes legal action to protect them. He helped bring millions of dollars back to D.C. through agreements and court decisions against companies that had done wrong. In 2017, Racine also started the Public Advocacy Division. This group works to keep housing affordable, protect workers from not being paid fairly, keep the environment safe, and make sure public officials act with honesty.
In 2019, Racine's office sued DoorDash because the company was not giving customers' tips directly to delivery drivers. Instead, DoorDash used the tips to cover part of the "guaranteed amount" it paid drivers. Racine said this was misleading and against the law. As a result of the lawsuit, DoorDash agreed to change its policy so that tips would go directly to drivers. DoorDash also had to pay $1.5 million to drivers who had delivered in D.C. and gave $250,000 to local charities.
In 2021, Racine started a lawsuit against Amazon about fair business practices, but the case was later closed in March 2022. Because of his work on fair competition cases, President Joe Biden considered him for a position on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2021.
Personal Life
Karl Racine has been involved in many community organizations. He was on the board of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, which provides legal help to people who cannot afford it. He also helped with a program that provides legal services for health clinics and was on the board of a group that helps children learn to read.
He has also helped his home country of Haiti. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, he helped raise $125,000 from lawyers and staff at his law firm to support relief efforts. He also raised money for the Haitian Education and Leadership Program (HELP). In 2022, the Carnegie Corporation of New York recognized Racine with the Great Immigrants Award.
Racine lives in the Palisades neighborhood in Washington, D.C. He is in a relationship with attorney Kimberly Stietz. They have two sons, Karim (born 2020) and Kayleb (born 2021). Racine is Catholic.
