The Republican candidate for Attorney General of Wisconsin says it’s his job to defend the laws, even those that ban interracial or gay marriage, but his failure to prosecute his fellow Republican tells a hypocritical tale.
Brad Schimel is the Waukesha County District Attorney. He’s also the Republican candidate for Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin. That’s Schimel in the photo, above, standing with Governor Scott Walker, who has endorsed Schimel.
In an interview last month, Schimel said that his job is to defend all laws, and if that Wisconsin had a ban on interracial or same-sex marriage he would defend it, regardless of his possible “distaste” for the law.
“It might be distasteful to me,” to defend a ban on interracial marriage, Schimel told a local cable access host, “but I’ve got to stay consistent with that — as the state’s lawyer, it’s not my job to pick and choose.”
But in a report this week at Crooks and Liars, Schimel was charged with doing just that — picking and choosing.
In the “Walkergate” case, in which several of Governor Scott Walker’s “top aides and close allies were arrested and charged,” a “case was eventually referred to the Waukesha County District Attorney, Brad Schimel.” The C&L report states “instead of charging [a Republican attorney] with at least a couple of felonies, which would have been slam dunk convictions, Schimel let his fellow Republican off with being publicly reprimanded.”
In other words, “picking and choosing” which laws to enforce.
Before President Barack Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, he announced he would no longer defend DOMA in court, but would continue to enforce it. Republicans of course saw this as a dereliction of duty and falsely conflated enforcing the law with defending the law in court.
And of course, attorneys general are under no moral or legal obligation to defend in court a law they personally beehive is unconstitutional.
Bans on same-sex marriage have been declared unconstitutional in state and federal courts dozens of times, and the U.S. supreme Court of course declared bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional, famously, in 1967’s Loving v. Virginia.
Moreover, the head of the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder specifically has told state attorneys general they are not required to defend same-sex marriage laws in court. Some attorneys general have already refused to defend those bans, including the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, and the Attorney General of Virginia.Â
Schimel is running against Democrat Susan Happ and released a statement responding to criticism over defending ban on interracial and gay marriage, which Happ has said she would not defend.
“Love and the law are colorblind, as they should be. Many shameful, racist laws were changed over the course of time in this country by legislators, the courts and the people’s direct votes. But if Susan Happ wants to make up new laws, or change old ones, she’s running for the wrong job,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Schimel has criticized Happ because she has said she would not defend the state’s ban on gay marriage, its voter ID law and a requirement that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where they practice. Schimel has said he would have defended all those laws and would have had no choice to do otherwise.
Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriage ended this week, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review rulings striking down bans here and in four other states.
Watch the interview with Schimel:
Â
Image via Facebook
Hat tip: Scott Kaufman at Raw Story
Â
Â
Â