MADISON, Wis. (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is allowing an ousted interim federal prosecutor to continue overseeing cases in Wisconsin with a new title in what’s becoming a familiar move in federal judicial districts across the nation as Democrats in the U.S. Senate delay confirmation votes on President Donald Trump’s appointees.
Bondi appointed Brad Schimel in November to a 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, headquartered in Milwaukee. His term was set to expire Tuesday, according to a news release on the district’s website. The district’s federal judges could have allowed him to remain in the interim post, but they announced March 10 that they decided not to extend him.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Milwaukee announced Wednesday that Bondi has named Schimel first assistant U.S. attorney in Milwaukee and that he’ll continue overseeing operations under that title.
“I am grateful for this opportunity to serve the people of the Eastern District of Wisconsin,” Schimel said in a statement. “I will continue to work tirelessly to make the entire district safer and stronger.”
Interim, acting or first assistant U.S. attorneys are running most of the nation’s 94 federal judicial districts as Senate Democrats hold up confirmation votes on presidential appointees. According to a list on the U.S. Department of Justice’s website, only 30 districts are currently led by a presidentially nominated and Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney.
First assistants like Schimel are currently running U.S. attorney’s offices in a dozen states, including California, New Mexico, Kentucky, Nevada, New York, Virginia, Vermont and Washington state, according to the list.
Schimel, a Republican, holds a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He served as the Waukesha County district attorney before winning election as Wisconsin attorney general in 2014. He lost a bid for a second term to Democrat Josh Kaul in 2018. He landed on his feet after that defeat, though, with outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointing him as a judge in Waukesha County.
He ran for the state Supreme Court last spring with the court’s ideological balance at stake. But despite Trump’s endorsement and millions in spending from billionaire Elon Musk, Schimel lost the race to liberal Susan Crawford.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, said earlier this month that she opposed allowing Schimel to continue to serve as interim U.S. attorney, calling Schimel a partisan actor and saying “getting the right person who will uphold the rule of law rather than pledge loyalty to the President, is more important than ever.”
Republican Ron Johnson, Wisconsin’s other U.S. senator, has called the decision by Eastern District judges not to extend Schimel’s tenure as interim U.S. attorney “bizarre.” He had urged Bondi to keep Schimel in charge of the Milwaukee office.
