District attorney
He began his career as a prosecutor in 1990,when he joined the Waukesha County District Attorney's office. In 2006 Schimel was elected Waukesha County District Attorney. He would be re-elected without opposition in 2008,2010,and 2012.
In 2005,Schimel successfully prosecuted Ron Schroeder,professionally known as 'Silly the Clown' for child abuse. Simultaneously,he drew criticism for downplaying and refusing to condemn a conservative PAC potentially doxxing child molestation victims in a political attack ad. Schimel also softened the terms of plea bargains for child molesters and blamed child sexual assault survivors for their own "bad judgement",ironically similar to former Wisconsin Supreme Court member Daniel Kelly who as an attorney in private practice made a career of defending pedophiles after in a series of 1997-1998 cases representing Kenneth Dwight Spaulding and Rhonda Spaulding,a convicted serial pedophile couple who posed as pastors to lure several underaged boys and girls to their private home to then sexually assault and molest them. Whether Schimel has had any relationship to Kelly or the couple beforehand is not yet known. Kenneth Dwight Spaulding died in 2006. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
In 2011,Schimel was appointed to serve on the Wisconsin Judicial Council and the Wisconsin Crime Victim Council. [10]
Attorney general
On October 7,2013,Wisconsin's then-attorney general,J. B. Van Hollen,announced he would not run for a third term in 2014. [11] Schimel immediately announced that he was considering a run to succeed Van Hollen; [12] he formally announced his campaign less than a week later. [13] Ultimately,no other Republican candidates entered the race,and Van Hollen endorsed Schimel as his successor. [14] In the 2014 general election,Schimel defeated his opponent Democrat Susan Happ. [15]
As attorney general,Schimel appealed the ruling by a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin that Brendan Dassey,one of the subjects of Making a Murderer ,had been coerced into confessing to a murder as an intellectually disabled 16-year old. [16] Courts subsequently ruled either to free Dassey or block his release pending a new trial. [16] Schimel argued that the United States Supreme Court should not hear Dassey's case;when the U.S. Supreme Court declined hearing Dassey's case,Schimel said he was pleased. [17] [18]
Schimel also attempted to resuscitate the abortion-limiting provisions of 2013's Act 37 passed by the Legislature. Those provisions,requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital,were struck down by a federal judge in 2013. Schimel appealed the ruling to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals,which upheld the district court decision in their November 2015 ruling. [19] Schimel then appealed to the United States Supreme Court,but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal. [20]
In November 2016,a three-judge panel of federal judges found that Wisconsin's legislative map,enacted in 2011,was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The map had resulted in a persistent Republican majority of about 64% of both legislative chambers despite the popular vote in the state being evenly split between the two parties. [21] Schimel appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court,which heard the case along with other partisan gerrymandering questions in that term. [22] The Court gave its opinion in the case Gill v. Whitford (2019),siding with Wisconsin Republicans and ruling that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated personal harm,and therefore did not have standing to challenge the map. The decision effectively ended federal court oversight of partisan gerrymandering questions. [23] [24]
Sexual assault kit controversy
During his tenure as Wisconsin Attorney General,Schimel faced criticism regarding the handling of a backlog of untested sexual assault kits (SAKs). Upon assuming office in January 2015,Schimel inherited 6,006 untested SAKs from previous years of buildup. [25] In September 2015 his office secured $4,000,000 in federal grants to address the issue. By early 2017,Schimel claimed to have tested "hundreds" of untested kits,but two days later,spokeswoman Rebecca Ballweg admitted that only nine kits had been tested. Ballweg said Schimel's office would now use the grant money to send 200 SAKs to a private lab per month. Critics assert that there was a lack of urgency and that Schimel should have also requested state resources immediately instead of only pursuing federal grants. Police departments were also criticized for dragging their feet on the testing. Schimel had expedited the process by authorizing overtime and the hiring of 11 part-time workers. By June 2018,Schimel's office had tested 1,900 kits out of the now-grown 6,800 untested kits. [26]
Schimel announced in September 2018 that all but five of the eligible tests had been cleared after receiving about $7,000,000 total in grant funding. [27]
In response to the criticisms,Schimel stated that he used a victims' rights approach in gathering survivor consent and minimizing victimization. Schimel pointed out that members of the victim advocate group the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault stated that the completion of the backlog of untested kits was a significant milestone and that they were satisfied with the pace of the tests. [28] [29]
State judge
In November 2018,after Schimel was defeated for reelection by Democratic candidate Josh Kaul,Republican Governor Scott Walker (who had lost his own re-election bid to Democratic candidate Tony Evers) appointed Schimel to the Waukesha County Circuit Court. The state Democratic Party criticized the appointment. [30] Walker announced the appointment the day after Schimel conceded to Kaul. [31] Walker passed over 13 applicants for the position to appoint Schimel;it is unclear whether Schimel submitted a formal application for the judicial vacancy. [31] Schimel had submitted letters of recommendation for four other applicants for the job,including one of his campaign coordinators. [31]
In October 2020,Schimel was an emcee at an Ozaukee County Republican Party fundraising event,alongside Ron Johnson and other Republican elected officials. This prompted criticism because Wisconsin state law states that judges must refrain from engaging in partisan political activity. [32] [33] [34] Schimel defended his appearance at the event. [33] Schimel also attended a Donald Trump rally at the Waukesha County Airport later that month,although he "emphasized he was attending the rally as an individual and Trump supporter." [35]
During the COVID-19 pandemic,Schimel initially refused to wear a face covering while presiding in court,defying a statewide state court directive requiring the use of face coverings during in-person proceedings,as a measure to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Schimel withstood the court directive citing chronic sinus issues. After public defenders complained for months that Schimel's actions were putting litigants and counsel at risk,Schimel was reprimanded by the chief judge of the 3rd Judicial District. Chief Justice Patience Roggensack of the Wisconsin Supreme Court,who is the head of the Wisconsin state court system,barred Schimel from presiding over cases in person due to his refusal to wear a face covering (or hold proceedings all remotely via videoconference). The ban was lifted after Schimel agreed to wear a face covering in court. [32]
Schimel declared his candidacy for the Wisconsin Supreme Court on November 30,2023. He will face Dane County circuit judge Susan Crawford in the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election,in a race to succeed retiring justice Ann Walsh Bradley. [36] [37] The Elon Musk-backed dark money group Building America's Future and Richard Uihlein-backed Fair Courts America purchased more than $670,000 and $200,000 respectively of air time on Wisconsin TV stations for ads in the lead-up to the April 1 election. [38] Elizabeth Uihlein transferred $650,000 to the Schimel campaign through the Wisconsin Republican Party. [38]
