Former Wisconsin Attorney General and current Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel today announced his campaign for Wisconsin Supreme Court, citing the need to restore integrity and objectivity to the state’s highest court.
“We need to restore confidence in the people of Wisconsin that the justice system will be fair and impartial,” Schimel said during his announcement at Weldall Manufacturing in his home town of Waukesha, Wisconsin. “I will be honest about my principles, but will never prejudge a case and will never put my views above the law.
“Any responsible and ethical judge will have many cases where the first impressions they have from a case do not end up being the way they rule. That’s because you keep an open mind, you listen to people and you apply the law impartially.”
Schimel pointed to the most recent election for Wisconsin Supreme Court, where a judicial candidate made her views on potential lawsuits and current policy debates clear to the public, as a dangerous precedent that should not be repeated.
“No one should come to court knowing that they have already lost,” Schimel said. “A responsible jurist does not prejudge the case, and does not put their thumb on the scale. The liberal majority is poised to impose on the people of this state their will, rather than impartial judgment based on the law.”
Schimel cited the new liberal majority’s recent actions to meet in secret and fire the Director of State Courts and take away the powers of the Chief Justice as unprecedented and dangerous.
Schimel said, “there is an extraordinary danger when the high court feels it is above the law. The legislature and the governor act as checks on each other. But there is no check on this new liberal Supreme Court majority. They have the final say in interpreting the Wisconsin Constitution and Wisconsin laws. The only check on them is to take back the majority by winning in 2025.”
Judge Schimel’s early entrance into the race will allow the campaign to build on Schimel’s strong and resourceful statewide network of grassroots supporters, law enforcement and judicial leaders, and donors that supported his 2014 and 2018 campaigns for Wisconsin Attorney General.
Conservative Brad Schimel is a career public servant who served as a prosecutor for nearly two decades in the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office before being elected Waukesha County District Attorney in 2006. The thousands of cases he has prosecuted include human trafficking, sexual assault, homicide, drug trafficking, and domestic violence. Schimel, as District Attorney, also helped to establish Waukesha County’s successful drug treatment court and later presided over the court as a Circuit Court Judge. Schimel’s reputation as a tough, but fair prosecutor and public safety leader earned him the respect and endorsement of dozens of Democrat and Republican sheriffs and district attorneys during his campaigns for Wisconsin Attorney General in 2014 and 2018, both times uncontested in the primary. In 2018, Schimel was appointed to fill a judicial vacancy on the Waukesha County Circuit Court and was subsequently elected in 2019 to a full six-year term.
Last Update: Nov 30, 2023 6:57 pm CST
