WI Supreme Court debate 3/11/2025.

WI Right to Life Candidate Comparisons Spring 2025

Marquette Law School. Get to Know: Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Brad Schimel. YouTube, uploaded by Marquette Law School, [February 18, 2025].

Governor Walker (R) appointed Schimel the Waukesha County Circuit Court in 2018

Former Attorney General (2015-2019) to Republican Governor Scott Walker.  

As Attorney General Brad Schimel, appealed a Planned Parenthood lawsuit relating to a law that required physicians who provided abortion services to have admitting privileges at a hospital within thirty miles of the abortion clinic. In Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Inc. v. Schimel (2015) the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, found that the statute placed an undue burden on women seeking abortions and held it was unconstitutional.

As Attorney General:

• Sued to overturn the Affordable Care Act joining Republican attorney general from other states.
• Defended Wisconsin’s “Right-to-Work” Law (2015) which prohibited employers from requiring employees to join a union or pay union dues.
  

Brad Schimel platform emphasizes:

• Defending the Constitution
• Protecting Parental Rights
• Advocating for School Choice
• Upholding Right to Work
• Maintaining Voter ID Requirements
• Protecting Taxpayer Interests
• Supporting Law Enforcement.

The Role of Courts to Decide Cases

"You interpret law when you have to, but you apply the law as it’s written,” he said. “When there are ambiguities in the law, well, now you’re going to be forced to try to interpret the meaning of the ambiguity, but you try to stay as faithful as possible to the intent of the Legislature.” — Brad Schimel

Original Textual Meaning

"I’m also an originalist when it comes to the Constitution and the amendments,” he continued. “That they’re to be viewed in terms of the perspective of those that ratified the document or the amendments.”— Brad Schimel

Original Textual Meaning

Judge Schimel described himself as a "judicial conservative" emphasizing that he would "apply the law as written" explaining that judges "don't make law."

Original Textual Meaning

“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.” — Brad Schimel

Judicial Supremacy 

Judge Schimel said the "judicial branch was always intended to be the weakest."

Judicial Supremacy 

"[T]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.”  — Brad Schimel

The Nature and Limits of Judicial Power 

Schimel describes the current Wisconsin Supreme Court as engaging in "dramatic overreach" that is "leading our state to destruction."

The Nature and Limits of Judicial Power 

“If my values are dictating how I'm going to rule, then that's a problem. Now, if you're talking about values like respect for other people, I mean these are things I consider values, my parents taught me respect other people, leave things better than you found them. I respect the limits on your power as a judge. Respect the separation of powers. You respect the constitution, the law. Those are all values that absolutely will affect my decision-making. But personal opinions? No, they don't have any role." — Brad Schimel

The Nature and Limits of Judicial Power 

Regarding Act 10 and judicial recusal, Judge Schimel stated, “I didn’t have any involvement in Act 10,” he said. 'By the time I was elected attorney general, the cases were all done in the Supreme Court and the federal courts. If there’s anything lingering, I didn’t have any direct involvement, and I certainly, Justice Hagedorn was the governor’s chief counsel when that law was being drafted and created. He had a very direct role that I didn’t have.'" — Brad Schimel

The Nature and Limits of Judicial Power 

"...I approach my role as a judge with great humility. I respect the separation of powers, that the Legislature sets the laws, not the judge. I approach it with humility too toward the litigants that appear in front of my court. I respect that they are entitled to their day in court, that they are entitled to have somebody that’s going to listen to them all the way till the end of the case, before I go deciding or making up my mind on things." — Brad Schimel

Stance on Abortion

Brad Schimel describes himself as 'pro-life' and supports Wisconsin's 1849 abortion ban. He has stated that "'there is not a constitutional right to abortion' in Wisconsin and it 'will be a sham' if the Wisconsin Supreme Court doesn’t uphold the 1849 ban."

Described two recent Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion’s as “profoundly arrogant” arguing that “[i]ntegrity and humility are missing from this court[.]”

• In AMB v. Circuit Court (2024) the Court upheld state law prohibiting adoption of a child when an individual is not married to the child’s biological parent. Schimel criticized Judge Karofsky’s concurrence. Judge Karofsky condemned the institution of marriage describing it as “an outdated set of values.” Judge Karofsky also argued that “[t]he notion that marriage serves as the foundation of society is at best outdated, and at worst misogynistic.”
• In Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. State of Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission (2024) the Court found that Catholic Charities and four of is sub-entities were not “sufficiently religious” as they did were “not ‘primarily for religious purposes.’” (29, 50) The dissent argued that, “The majority rewrites the statute to deprive Catholic Charities of the tax exemption, rendering unto the state that which the law says belongs to the church.” (1) Judge Bradley wrote, “Impermissibly entangling the government in church doctrine, the majority astonishingly declares Catholic Charities are not ‘operated primarily for religious purposes’ because their activities are not ‘religious in nature.’[] The statute, however, requires only that a nonprofit be operated primarily for a religious reason.” (1)

Catholic (original source: Schimel's 2018 campaign website) 

Supreme Court chief justice banished Judge Brad Schimel from his own courtroom after he refused to wear mask