Former SCOWIS candidate Brad Schimel sworn in as top regional federal prosecutor

Former state Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel was sworn in Monday as an interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. 

That top federal prosecutor job covers 28 Wisconsin counties.

Schimel secured President Donald Trump’s endorsement when he ran as the conservative candidate in this spring’s high-profile Wisconsin Supreme Court election. That race became the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. Schimel lost on April 1 to Susan Crawford, a former Dane County Judge whose election cemented the court’s narrow liberal majority.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump appointee, appointed Schimel to his latest position. Democrats including U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin have criticized that process, noting that it skipped Senate approval. 

U.S. attorneys are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate to four-year terms. Schimel’s new position bypassed Senate approval, however, because it is classified as interim.

“Brad Schimel was soundly rejected twice by Wisconsinites because they knew he would play politics with the law, not deliver justice fairly for everyone – and he has no business being a top prosecutor in Wisconsin,” Baldwin said in a statement Monday. “As President Trump politicizes our justice system, it is more important than ever that the people serving in the courts and on the bench are committed to upholding the rule of law, not loyalty to the President.”

Schimel, a Republican, was Wisconsin attorney general from 2015 to 2019 before losing a re-election bid to Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul. Before that, he served as an elected district attorney in Waukesha County.

Most recently, Schimel served as a Waukesha County Circuit Court judge.

In a statement Monday, Schimel said he was “optimistic” that the interim U.S. attorney position would turn into a “longer-term opportunity.”

“For more than three and a half decades, public service has been my calling – first as a young prosecutor in Waukesha County, then as District Attorney, Attorney General, and most recently as a judge,” Schimel’s statement said. “In every one of those roles, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside dedicated professionals who believe, as I do, that justice isn’t just a system – it’s a promise we make to the people we serve.”