Federal judges decline to extend appointment for interim US attorney in Milwaukee

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal judges in Milwaukee announced Tuesday that have decided not to extend interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel’s appointment beyond next week.

Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Schimel in November to a 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, which is headquartered in Milwaukee and covers the eastern third of the state. His term is set to expire March 17.

Under federal law, a federal district’s judges can extend an interim U.S. attorney’s appointment until a permanent appointee takes the position. But the Eastern District’s judges said a majority of them have declined to extend Schimel’s term and will wait for President Donald Trump and the U.S. Senate to nominate and confirm a full-time U.S. attorney.

“In doing so, the Court intends no criticism or commentary on the performance or qualifications of the Interim United States Attorney or any of the attorneys in the United States Attorney’s Office,” the judges said in a statement posted on the Eastern District’s website. “To the credit of that office, from the Court’s perspective, it has continued to represent the citizens of this district well.”

Schimel declined to comment when reached by phone by The Associated Press.

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, after outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed him as a judge in Waukesha County.

He also ran for the state Supreme Court last spring with the court’s ideological balance at stake. But despite Trump’s endorsement and million in spending from billionaire Elon Musk, Schimel lost the race to liberal Susan Crawford.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a 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.”

Within weeks of being named interim U.S. attorney in November, Schimel found himself overseeing the prosecution of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, who was charged in April with helping an immigrant evade federal immigration officers who were trying to arrest him at the Milwaukee County courthouse.

The case inflamed tensions over Trump’s immigration crackdown, with his administration branding Dugan an activist judge and Democrats countering that the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation.

Schimel’s team ultimately persuaded a jury to find Dugan guilty of obstruction in December. She faces up to five years in prison, although her sentencing has not been scheduled as her attorneys push for a new trial.