Wisconsin’s Environmental Future Is at Stake in State Supreme Court Race

March 28, 2025

Since 2018, community leaders, environmental advocates, and tribal nations have opposed plans to build a $1-billion gas-fired power plant in Superior that would emit an estimated 3 million tons of greenhouse gases annually. Last December, Clean Wisconsin and the Sierra Club petitioned the Wisconsin Supreme Court to hear their case arguing that state regulators failed to properly assess the climate and environmental impacts of the project.

The court has not yet responded to the petition but it may ultimately hear the appeal after the winner of the April 1 judicial election is sworn in for a 10-year term in August. Indeed, the new justice will likely adjudicate on a wide range of high-profile environmental cases in the coming decade. Given candidate Brad Schimel’s longstanding ties to the fossil fuel industry and his pro-polluter track record, a victory by the former state attorney general would have significant repercussions for Wisconsin’s environment.

State courts are becoming all the more important to climate concerns now that President Trump is pressing forward with his “drill baby drill” agenda while at the same time endorsing massive environmental deregulation at the federal level. Schimel has spoken about the need for a legal “support network” for Trump and has closely aligned himself with the president since receiving his endorsement, including appearing in a “teletownhall” with him on March 27.

Schimel’s Shilling for Polluters

Schimel’s record on environmental issues is clear. When he served as attorney general between 2015 and 2019, he repeatedly sided with major polluters and worked to undermine environmental protections.

In his first year as AG, Schimel established the post of solicitor general with a $1-million budget and appointed Misha Tseytlin, who had been involved with legal battles against the Clean Power Plan (CPP) and the Clean Water Act. Additionally, he selected Andrew Cook, a former fossil fuel lobbyist who had worked for Koch Industries and Marathon Petroleum, as deputy attorney general.

At Schimel’s direction, Wisconsin joined a lawsuit aimed at stopping the CPP, the Obama administration’s major initiative to reduce carbon emissions from coal plants. During his 2014 campaign, soon after Schimel had indicated that he would oppose the CPP, the Rule of Law Project — a dark money group tied to Leonard Leo — spent nearly $200,000 on an ad praising him for opposing Obama.

In his first year, Schimel also voted to prevent employees of the state’s Board of Commissioners of Public Lands from engaging in any climate change-related work as part of their jobs. The “gag order” on these workers was kept in place until 2019, when it was lifted after the AG lost his reelection bid.

While serving as AG, Schimel also joined several GOP attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of ExxonMobil as it faced investigation for misleading the public about climate change. In addition, he attacked Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for being too cautious when considering permits for high-capacity wells, which can draw 100,000 gallons of water daily and can significantly impact local environments.

Schimel’s Department of Justice (DOJ) also refused to fine 3M Corp for illegal air pollution at two Wisconsin facilities, despite recommendations from DOJ staff. Instead, he prompted the multibillion-dollar corporation to simply invest $665,000 in equipment upgrades.

The 3M affair was an example of how then-Attorney General Schimel “repeatedly failed to hold corporate polluters accountable, allowing them to escape legal consequences,” according to Tom Dawson, a former head of the DOJ’s Environmental Protection Unit. “It was almost as if they [Schimel’s team] were representing the polluters.”

Polluter Cash

Schimel’s loyalty to polluters is not just rhetorical, it is well-funded. He has benefitted from large campaign contributions and independent expenditures from polluters since his first campaign for AG in 2014 and continues to enjoy support from the same special interest donors in his current run for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Koch Industries, one of the largest privately held fossil fuel conglomerates in the world, continues to be one of Schimel’s most significant backers. Koch’s political arm, Americans for Prosperity, has poured just under $3.2 million into Wisconsin this election cycle to help Schimel secure a seat on the state’s highest court.

Koch previously contributed $10,000 to Schimel’s failed reelection campaign for AG and gave over $500,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), which spent more than $2.5 million boosting Schimel in 2018. An investigation by the Center for Media and Democracy found that RAGA received more than $6.7 million in contributions from polluters between 2017 and 2019, including Koch.

RAGA is also linked to another longtime Schimel backer, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), which received $300,000 from RAGA in 2014 and spent roughly $1.5 million on pro-Schimel TV ads shortly after. WMC is the state’s most powerful business lobby with major polluters among its members and it has spent over $4.3 million helping Schimel’s Supreme Court campaign.

WMC supported efforts to stall the state’s clean energy transition and is litigating the DNR’s testing for PFAS in wastewater from industrial facilities. These toxic “forever chemicals” are used in a wide range of consumer, commercial, and industrial products. They have been linked to harmful health effects in people and animals, including cancer, reproductive issues, and kidney disease.

The Republican State Leadership Committee has spent at least $1.8 million through its Judicial Fairness Initiative to boost Schimel’s campaign. According to OpenSecrets, over $1 million of the committee’s funding in 2024 came directly from polluters, including $350,000 from Marathon Petroleum, $250,000 from Dominion Energy, and $200,000 from Koch Industries.

What’s at Stake?

If Schimel is elected on April 1, the current 4–3 liberal majority in the Wisconsin Supreme Court would shift, which would likely have profound implications for the state’s environment.

Like his opponent, Susan Crawford, Schimel has said that he would not make any blanket pledge to recuse himself from cases involving his political party or other major backers of his campaign. But unlike Crawford, he could not identify a single decision he made as a judge that angered his supporters when asked during a debate between the two candidates on March 12.

Schimel “demonstrated as attorney general that he could not be fair, he could not be unbiased, he could not enforce the law as required by the statutes,” Dawson said. “He was solely at the beck and call of industry.”

Dawson, who worked under both Democratic and Republican attorneys general in Wisconsin, concluded that if Schimel is elected, “He will rule in favor of industrial parties that appear before the Supreme Court, against the environment, in favor of polluters. He will put the interests of industry ahead of the interests of the public.”

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