Eric S. Schmitt

This article is about the politician. For others, see Eric Schmitt (disambiguation).

Eric S. Schmitt
43rd Missouri Attorney General
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2019
Governor	Mike Parson
Preceded by	Josh Hawley
46th Treasurer of Missouri
In office January 9, 2017 – January 3, 2019
Governor	Eric Greitens Mike Parson
Preceded by	Clint Zweifel
Succeeded by	Scott Fitzpatrick
Member of the Missouri Senate from the 15th district
In office January 7, 2009 – January 4, 2017
Preceded by	Michael R. Gibbons
Succeeded by	Andrew Koenig
Member of the Glendale City Council from Ward 3
In office 2005–2008
Preceded by	Richard Magee
Succeeded by	Dan Sullivan
Personal details
Born	(1975-06-20) June 20, 1975 Bridgeton, Missouri, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Jaime Schmitt
Children	3
Education	Truman State University (BA) Saint Louis University (JD)
Website	Attorney General's Office Website

Eric S. Schmitt (born June 20, 1975) is an American politician who has served as the 43rd Attorney General of Missouri since 2019. He previously served as the 46th State Treasurer of Missouri from 2017 to 2019. Before that, he was a member of the Missouri Senate, representing Missouri's 15th State Senate District from 2009 to 2017. He had also previously served as an alderman for Glendale, Missouri from 2005 to 2008, where he was one of two aldermen for Ward 3. On November 13, 2018, Schmitt was named Attorney General of Missouri by Governor Mike Parson, after the incumbent, Josh Hawley, was elected to the United States Senate. On November 3, 2020, Schmitt was elected to serve a full four-year term as Missouri's attorney general and received the most votes in state history for this position.

Early life, education and career

Born in Bridgeton, Missouri, Schmitt is a sixth-generation Missourian and a lifelong resident of St. Louis County.

Schmitt graduated from DeSmet Jesuit High School in 1993 and from Truman State University in 1997, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in political science. At Truman, Schmitt was a member of the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity, played football and baseball, and was a founding member of Truman's Habitat for Humanity chapter. He received a scholarship to attend Saint Louis University School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctor in 2000. Schmitt was an editor of the law review and published an article analyzing the Supreme Court decision in Clinton v. New York.

Schmitt lives in Glendale and attends Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic Church with his wife, Jaime, and their three children, Stephen, Sophia and Olivia. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Philosophy at Saint Louis University where he taught a course for law students and upper classmen entitled 21^st Century American Civics.

Schmitt was admitted to the Missouri bar in 2000. He was a partner at the firm Lathrop & Gage, LLP, in Clayton, Missouri

State Senate (2009–2017)

Schmitt served as an alderman for Glendale, Missouri, from 2005 to 2008. On November 4, 2008, Schmitt was elected to the Missouri Senate. When sworn in, Schmitt became one of the youngest members ever to serve in the state's upper chamber. He represented Missouri's 15th State Senate district, which includes parts of central and western St. Louis County. Following the 2010 census, Schmitt's district was redrawn, although it is still centered around central St. Louis County. On February 28, 2012, Schmitt filed for reelection in the 15th district. He ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections in 2012.

Schmitt served in Senate Leadership as Majority Caucus Chairman and was Chairman of the Jobs, Economic Development and Local Government Committee. He also served on the Committee on Gubernatorial Appointments; the Committee on Judicial, Civil, and Criminal Jurisprudence; Veterans’ Affairs and Health Committee; and Chaired the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.

In addition, Schmitt worked to enact the federal ABLE Act, to provide 529 savings account opportunities to families with children with special needs, to cover their future costs and allow them to be more financially independent and self-sufficient. The Missouri ABLE program allows anyone to make a tax-deductible contribution of up to $8,000 for an individual or $16,000 for married couples to another person's ABLE account. The bill sponsored by Schmitt was signed by the Governor in 2015.

In 2016, Schmitt sponsored a bill (S.B. 572) that set a limit on the percent of revenue that Missouri local governments could obtain from non-traffic fines (such as fines for violation of city ordinances). Existing state law had set a revenue limit on the percent of revenue that municipalities could obtain from traffic fines The bill passed the state Senate in a 25–6 vote in January 2016.

Following the unrest in Ferguson, Schmitt identified that too many municipalities were too reliant on fines to fund their budgets. He led the bipartisan legislative effort to bar cities, counties and law-enforcement agencies from setting traffic-ticket quotas as well as taxation by citation. Schmitt worked with Democratic Senator Jamilah Nasheed and others on the legislation, which passed the state Senate in February 2016 and was enacted into law. Later as attorney general, Schmitt worked to enforce the legislation, taking on municipalities that continued to enforce ticket quotas to raise revenue in violation of the law.

Schmitt was absent in the 2013 failed vote to pass the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act, and supported a 2016 failed measure to protect businesses that oppose same-sex marriages for religious reasons.

Schmitt successfully passed two of the largest state income tax cuts in Missouri history, which took effect in 2018.

Missouri State Treasurer (2017–2019)

Schmitt did not run for re-election to the Missouri State Senate in 2016 because he was term-limited. Instead, he filed to run for Treasurer of Missouri in the 2016 elections. Schmitt ran as a Republican and was unopposed in the Republican primary. He defeated opponents Democrat Judy Baker and Libertarian Sean O'Toole in the general election.

Missouri Attorney General

See also: 2020 Missouri Attorney General election

Schmitt was appointed to the office of Attorney General of Missouri by Governor Mike Parson to succeed Josh Hawley, who was elected to the United States Senate in 2018. Schmitt took office in January 2019.

First Amendment

In August 2019, Schmitt withdrew a legal brief that argued that the First Amendment allowed government officials to withhold records from a Sunshine Law request, following criticism from transparency advocates who noted that the brief did not cite any case law. A Freedom Center of Missouri representative raised concern that the argument is similar to a case involving governor Mike Parson, which Schmitt had not yet ruled on.

LGBT rights

Schmitt is among 14 attorney general signatories on a Supreme Court brief stating that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect LGBTQ people from employment discrimination. Schmitt said his signature "should not be interpreted as speaking to the merits of the issue, but rather the interpretation of the law that is written," and that he believes "every person, no matter their race, creed, ZIP code or gender, should be treated with dignity under the law", however critics dismiss this as "legalese" and "on the wrong side of history." In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was unconstitutional (with conservative justices Roberts and Gorsuch voting with the majority).

SAFE Kits

Schmitt launched the SAFE Kit Initiative in 2019 to help achieve justice for victims by helping eliminate the backlog of untested sexual assault kits in Missouri. The initiative created statewide protocols to expedite testing for untested sexual assault kits. Schmitt said he will work with local law enforcement and victims to prosecute criminals and obtain overdue justice for victims of sexual assault.

Religious freedom

In 2019, Schmitt spoke in defense of a Missouri high school coach who was being pursued by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The foundation accused the football coach of violating the U.S. Constitution by leading students in prayer before and after games. In a letter, Schmitt said he would support the coach, school, and school district in a lawsuit if necessary and noted no one was forcing students and players to participate in prayer in public spaces.

Human trafficking

Schmitt's Attorney General office has partnered with the FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force to combat human trafficking in Missouri.

Schmitt's Attorney General office assisted with multiple departments of law enforcement to carry out a successful human trafficking rescue in St. Joseph, Missouri. Eight victims, including two children, were rescued.

Prosecution of Antonio Muldrew

In January 2020, Schmitt successfully prosecuted a murder case in the City of St. Louis. The jury returned a quick verdict, finding Antonio Muldrew guilty of first-degree murder for shooting and killing Ethiopian refugee Abdulrauf Kadir at a convenience store in 2014. This was the first time a Missouri Attorney General prosecuted a murder case in the City of St. Louis.

Google antitrust investigation

In September 2019, Schmitt and Attorneys General from throughout the U.S. launched an antitrust investigation against Google. The bipartisan group of state Attorneys General accuse Google of prioritizing searches for companies that advertise on the search engine platform.

Safer Streets Initiative

The Safer Streets Initiative was unveiled in January 2019 by Schmitt to help get violent criminals off the street faster. The initiative is designed to address violent crime in St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield, which have been ranked in the Top 15 for per capita violent crime rates. Schmitt says this is the first partnership in the country between the Missouri Attorney General's Office, U.S. Attorney's Office and various local law enforcement units to address violent crime.

Coronavirus response

In a letter to Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, Schmitt expressed deep concern about inmates with violent felonies being released from jail during the coronavirus pandemic. He identified ten examples of violent criminals included in a list of over 100 people about which he said he has serious questions. Schmitt said the record shows Gardner did not object to the release of these criminals and in many cases the victims or their families were not notified about the releases.

Schmitt partnered with private sector retailers including Amazon to combat scammers and price gougers attempting to profiteer off COVID-19. The effort led to civil investigative demands for sellers in Missouri charging 2 to 19 times the prices they charged prior to the pandemic on items such as face masks and hand sanitizer.

Schmitt ordered a Springfield-area man to cease-and-desist price gouging on N95 medical face masks. In addition to stopping the man from selling the masks, the effort led to a return to retailers at least 600 masks he had been hoarding.

In March 2020, Schmitt filed a lawsuit against televangelist Jim Bakker and Morningside Church Productions, Inc. for misrepresentations about the effectiveness of "Silver Solution" as a treatment for COVID-19.

On April 21, 2020 Schmitt filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, on behalf of the State of Missouri against the Chinese government, Chinese Communist Party, and other Chinese officials and institutions, alleging that their actions to suppress information, arrest whistleblowers, and deny the contagious nature of the 2019 novel Coronavirus led to loss of life and severe economic consequences in Missouri. Missouri is the first state to sue China over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anti-carjacking

Schmitt supports creating a specific anti-carjacking statute so the state's law-enforcement community has the ability to charge offenders with felonies. The initiative is part of his plan to address violent crime in Missouri.

St. Louis police residency

Schmitt supports an effort in the Missouri legislature to address the shortage of police officers in St. Louis City by lifting the residency requirement for police officers.

Agriculture

On the national level, Schmitt is sought for agriculture issues, due in part to the diversity of agriculture in the state of Missouri. Schmitt has defended the state's position against burdensome local regulations on Missouri's livestock producers, fought disruptive California regulations against Missouri's farmers, and as a state senator, took on the EPA for regulating smoke from backyard barbecues in an effort Schmitt dubbed the "pork steak rebellion." Schmitt has joined other U.S. state attorneys general to investigate the meat packing industry during COVID-19 as it relates to anti-trust concerns.

Texas v. Pennsylvania

After Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Schmitt's office supported the Trump campaign's attempt to invalidate ballots it said were illegally cast in Pennsylvania. On December 8, 2020, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the states of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, where certified results showed Joe Biden the electoral victor over President Donald Trump. Paxton, Schmitt, and 16 other states' Attorneys General who support Paxton's challenge of the election results alleged numerous instances of unconstitutional actions in the four states' presidential ballot tallies, arguments that had already been rejected in other state and federal courts.

In Texas v. Pennsylvania, Paxton asked the United States Supreme Court to invalidate the states' sixty-two electoral votes, allowing Trump to be declared the winner of a second presidential term. Because the suit has been characterized as a dispute between states, the Supreme Court retains original jurisdiction, though it frequently declines to hear such suits. There was no evidence of consequential illegal voting in the election. Paxton's lawsuit included claims that had been tried unsuccessfully in other courts and shown to be false. Officials from each of the four states described Paxton's lawsuit as having recycled false and disproven claims of irregularity. The merits of the objections were sharply criticized by legal experts and politicians. Election law expert Rick Hasen described the lawsuit as "the dumbest case I've ever seen filed on an emergency basis at the Supreme Court." Republican Senator Ben Sasse said the situation of Paxton initiating the lawsuit "looks like a fella begging for a pardon filed a PR stunt", in reference to Paxton's own state and federal legal issues (securities fraud charges and abuse of office allegations). On December 11, the U.S. Supreme Court quickly rejected the suit which Schmitt had joined, in an unsigned opinion.

Supporting the Keystone Pipeline

Along with a colation of 13 attorneys general, Schmitt urged President Biden to reconsider his unilateral revocation of the presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Electoral history

2008 Missouri State Senate - District 15

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Eric Schmitt	51,366	54.7
	Democratic	James Trout	42,469	45.3

2012 Missouri State Senate - District 15

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Eric Schmitt	77,745	100	+45.3

Missouri Treasurer Election 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Eric Schmitt	1,545,582	56.447%	Winner
	Democratic	Judy Baker	1,078,063	39.372%
	Libertarian	Sean O'Toole	78,543	2.868%
	Green	Carol Hexem	66,490	1.312%

External links

• Lathrop & Gage LLP - People - Eric S. Schmitt biography at his law firm
• Project vote smart biography
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Civic offices
Preceded by Richard Magee	Member of the Glendale City Council from Ward 3 2005–2008	Succeeded by Dan Sullivan
Missouri Senate
Preceded by Michael Gibbons	Member of the Missouri Senate from the 15th district 2009–2017	Succeeded by Andrew Koenig
Political offices
Preceded by Clint Zweifel	Treasurer of Missouri 2017–2019	Succeeded by Scott Fitzpatrick
Legal offices
Preceded by Josh Hawley	Attorney General of Missouri 2019–present	Incumbent