Who is Brad Schimel, the Extremist Running for a Seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court?

Wisconsin voters will elect a new judge to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in April to fill the seat vacated by retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, a liberal member of the court who announced last year that she would not seek reelection.

With the court’s liberal majority on the line and a raft of significant cases waiting in the wings, the stakes could hardly be higher. Spending on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race will likely surpass the record-breaking $50 million spent in 2023, which marked the highest amount ever spent on a state judicial contest.

The two candidates running to replace Walsh are Judge Susan Crawford of Dane County and Judge Brad Schimel of Waukesha County. Between them, they had already raised $12.8 million by early February, with less than two months to go until the election.

Schimel, a Republican, previously served as Wisconsin’s attorney general from 2015–19. He has held close associations with several right-wing organizations and taken far-right positions on hot-button issues from abortion to guns, health care, and the J6 rioters who attacked the Capitol.

Shutting Down Abortion Access

Given its current legal status in Wisconsin, one of the key issues in the upcoming election is abortion. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a Wisconsin law dating from 1849 that restricts access to abortion with no exceptions became valid in the state again.

In 2023, however, a Dane County Circuit Court judge held that consensual medical abortions are permitted under the 1849 law. Anti-abortion advocates appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court, which will hear the case of Planned Parenthood v. Urmanski after the April election.

At a public event in January, Schimel told fellow Republicans that he believes “life begins at conception” and “we have to shut this [abortion] issue down.”

In addition, Schimel has been endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin, which affirms on its website that it is committed to “ban abortion without exceptions for rape, incest, or the life and health of the mother.”

Schimel has also openly admitted that he supports the 1849 law, prejudicing the decision-making position he would likely have in Planned Parenthood v. Urmanski if he is elected to the high court.

Schimel’s disregard for women’s bodily autonomy was evident during his single term as attorney general when he let 6,000 rape kits go untested for years — even after receiving more than $5 million in grants to process the backlog of physical evidence gathered to support allegations of sexual assault.

Schimel lied about the progress of processing the untested rape kits, which reached a peak number during his tenure. Ultimately, after significant delays and great expense to taxpayers, 4,000 of the backlogged kits were eventually tested just before his reelection campaign.

Gun Advocacy

The National Rifle Association (NRA) endorsed Schimel and gave him an A+ — the highest possible grade — when he was running for reelection as attorney general in 2018. His opposition to “criminalizing private firearm transfers” was one of several reasons why he earned the NRA’s ringing endorsement. That year, he also indicated an openness to arming teachers and others in public schools.

Schimel’s hardline position on guns is particularly relevant given that the Institute for Reforming Government, a right-wing group, said the Wisconsin Supreme Court “would be the final arbitrator” if new gun control measures recently proposed by Democratic Governor Tony Evers are enacted.

Right-Wing Allies

Schimel has the strong backing of billionaire Charles Koch’s astroturf operation Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which spent $157 million on federal elections in 2024 through its super PAC AFP Action.

AFP opposes health care reform, organized labor, and environmental policies aimed at mitigating the unfolding climate emergency.

AFP has already spent $1.2 million to support Schimel’s campaign, including a $1-million digital ad buy announced in December. As part of that ad campaign, AFP released several digital and TV ads on February 6 with a focus on law and order as seen through a right-wing lens. AFP-Wisconsin has organized door-to-door canvassing for Schimel, too, which it claims has already reached more than 175,000 voters.

AFP’s Latino front group Libre Initiative also endorsed Schimel, which AFP called “huge” without mentioning that Libre is a project of AFP.

A listing on the AFP-Wisconsin website originally announced that Schimel would take part in an event organized by the group on Thursday, January 30 at Ope! Brewing Co., but the event page was subsequently removed in advance.

Schimel has also had a longstanding relationship with the Federalist Society, a right-wing group that has successfully shepherded the appointment of like-minded judges across the country.

Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the organization, played a significant role in selecting President Trump’s three ultra-conservative appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court, all of whom are members of the Federalist Society.

In 2018, when he was serving as attorney general and running for reelection, Schimel delivered the keynote address at the organization’s Inaugural Wisconsin Chapters Conference. Fifteen Wisconsin judges protested the use of public funds for the private and highly partisan event, as the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) reported at the time. “We do not believe it is appropriate for the judicial branch to be underwriting attendance at a private event where the Attorney General, who is on the ballot in a politically partisan race, is the keynote speaker,” the judges wrote.

“The Federalist Society is making recommendations for appointments of great judges nationwide,” Schimel told conference attendees. “That’s going to make such a difference for decades to come.”

In addition, Schimel spoke about “How AGs Can Shake Up Government” at a Federalist Society event in Wisconsin in 2023.

Hate Group Ties

In 2017, Schimel attended an Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) conference in California. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies ADF, a Christian Right litigation outfit, as a “hate group” due to its claims that a “‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society,” and because it supports the “recriminalization” of homosexuality and “state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad.”

As attorney general at the time, Schimel received over $4,000 from ADF for first-class travel and accommodations related to the conference and kept his appearance secret in violation of the state’s open records law, according to One Wisconsin Now.

At the Federalist Society’s 2018 Inaugural Wisconsin Chapters Conference, Schimel concluded his speech by recognizing “his friend” from the ADF who was in the room and commenting that the time he had spent at the ADF conference the year before was “the best.”

Opposition to the Affordable Care Act

As attorney general, Schimel worked in lockstep with the far-right, corporate pay-to-play Republican Attorney Generals Association (RAGA) and was among the leaders of its campaign to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which now benefits more than 300,000 Wisconsinites.

At the Federalist Society’s 2018 Wisconsin state conference, Schimel said he was “really proud that right now we’re leading the charge… against the Affordable Care Act. We got them this time,” he promised. “We’re going to stop it.”

At the time, the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) refused CMD’s public records request related to Schimel’s significant role in the legal battle against the ACA on the grounds that a restrictive policy implemented during his tenure as AG limited records access to 500 emails. CMD sued the DOJ, and a settlement was reached after Schimel left office in which the Justice Department revoked the restrictive records policy and produced hundreds of records relating to CMD’s initial request.

Support for J6 Rioters

In addition, RAGA is forever tied to the J6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol since it was a member of the March to Save America coalition that arranged the rally in D.C. that day.

RAGA’s dark money offshoot, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, organized robocalls to Trump supporters before January 6 urging them to travel to D.C. to “march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal.”

Earlier this year, Schimel challenged the legitimacy of the prosecutions of J6 defendants, saying that they were the victims of Democratic “lawfare” and never had a “fair shot.” He then moderated his position by saying that those involved in violence had been rightfully prosecuted, but did not criticize Trump’s blanket pardon of even the most violent offenders on his first day in office.

Eleven Wisconsinites were among the more than 1,500 J6 defendants Trump pardoned, including Joseph Cattani of Colgate, who pulled on an officer’s face shield, and Riley Kasper of Saxon, who shot a can of pepper spray at police officers.

Late last month, Harry Dunn, a former Capitol police officer who defended the premises from rioters, accused Schimel of “clearly playing both sides” in shifting his position and failing to outright condemn the release of J6 offenders who had been found guilty of attacking the police.

Last year, Schimel told fellow Republicans that America needs “another bloody revolution” to get “freedom” back from “the socialists.”