William Duncan Schuette ( ; born October 13, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd

attorney general of Michigan The Attorney General of the State of Michigan is the fourth-ranking official in the U.S. state of Michigan. The officeholder is elected statewide in the November general election alongside the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, me ...

from 2011 to 2019. He was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Senate in 1990 and for

Governor of Michigan The governor of Michigan is the head of state, head of government, and chief executive of the U.S. state of Michigan. The current governor is Gretchen Whitmer, a member of the Democratic Party, who was inaugurated on January 1, 2019, as the st ...

in the 2018 gubernatorial election.

Early life

Schuette was born in

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Comb ...

. He is the son of Esther Cathrin (Little) and William H. Schuette, and step-son of Carl Gerstacker, former chairman of the board of The Dow Chemical Company. Schuette graduated from

Herbert Henry Dow High School Herbert Henry Dow High School is a public high school located in Midland, Michigan, United States. The school, a part of Midland Public Schools, is a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence and in 2008 was named one of the top 20 High Schools i ...

in 1972. He attended Georgetown University in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

and in 1976 graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in the Foreign Service. He also studied at the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

in Scotland and received a J.D. from the

University of San Francisco School of Law The University of San Francisco School of Law (USF Law) is the law school of the private University of San Francisco. Established in 1912, it received American Bar Association accreditation in 1935 and joined the Association of American Law Scho ...

in 1979. Schuette was admitted to the Michigan

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ( ...

in 1981.

Political career

President Donald Trump with Bill Schuette

Schuette was a delegate to the Michigan Republican conventions in 1972, 1974, and 1982. In November 1984, at the age of 31, Schuette narrowly defeated incumbent Democrat Donald J. Albosta for a seat in the United States House of Representatives from Michigan's 10th congressional district. Schuette was re-elected to the two succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1985 until January 3, 1991. In 1990, he unsuccessfully challenged Democratic United States Senator

Carl Levin Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the chair of the Senate Armed Services ...

for reelection. While in Congress, Schuette served on the

House Budget Committee The United States House Committee on the Budget, commonly known as the House Budget Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. Its responsibilities include legislative oversight of the federal budget process, ...

, the

House Agriculture Committee The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, or Agriculture Committee is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The House Committee on Agriculture has general jurisdiction over federal agriculture policy and oversight of s ...

and the

House Select Committee on Aging The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Aging was a permanent select committee of the United States House of Representatives between 1974 and 1992. The committee was created with the intent not of forming legislation directly, but ...

. In January 1991, Schuette was named by then-Governor John Engler as the director of the

Michigan Department of Agriculture The Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (MDARD), formerly the Michigan Department of Agriculture is a department of the Michigan state government created in 1921 to enforce laws regarding agriculture production and distribution. ...

. The incumbent director, Robert Mitchell, resigned after Engler was elected governor. He was approved by the five member agriculture commission on January 11, 1991. While director, Schuette and his wife Cynthia created the Michigan Harvest Gathering, a food and fund drive to help feed hungry people throughout the state. Joining with the Food Bank Council of Michigan, the Michigan Harvest Gathering has raised more than $4 million and 6 million pounds of food over a 12-year period. He resigned from his post on February 25, 1994 to run for the

Michigan State Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, adopt ...

. He was replaced by Gordon Guyer as director of agriculture. In November 1994, he was elected to the Michigan Senate from the 35th district, where he served until 2003. In 2001, Schuette was selected by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

to be his personal representative to Australian-American Friendship Week in Australia. In November 2002, he was elected a judge on the Michigan Fourth District Court of Appeals. He succeeded Donald E. Holbrook Jr. He took office in January 2003. His term expired on January 1, 2009. He was replaced by Michael J. Kelly. In 2008, Michigan voters considered a ballot initiative to establish a medical marijuana program for registered patients with qualifying conditions. Schuette served as a spokesperson for a group opposed to the proposed law. After leaving the judiciary, Schuette worked for Warner, Norcross & Judd, one of Michigan's largest law firms. On November 2, 2010, Schuette won the election to become Michigan Attorney General. In September 2011, petition language to

recall Recall may refer to: * Recall (bugle call), a signal to stop * Recall (information retrieval), a statistical measure * ''ReCALL'' (journal), an academic journal about computer-assisted language learning * Recall (memory) * ''Recall'' (Overwatc ...

Schuette was approved by Midland County authorities, allowing the circulating of recall petitions. Among the grievances cited are his attempts to undermine the medical marijuana law approved by voters in 2008. In 2011, Schuette filed suit to close two Michigan abortion clinics on grounds of improper record disposal. Before the Supreme Court's 2015, decision in ''

Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection ...

'', Schuette fought against same-sex marriage. On August 19, 2015, Schuette endorsed

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush a ...

for president. In December 2016, Schuette filed suit to try to stop a presidential election recount effort in Michigan requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein.Nolan D. McCaskill, December 2, 2016, ''Politico''
Michigan attorney general files lawsuit to halt recount
Retrieved December 2, 2016, "...Michigan's attorney general has filed a lawsuit to stop a recount of the presidential election results requested by Green Party nominee Jill Stein ..." In January 2017, Schuette was admonished by Eastern District of United States of Michigan Judge David M. Lawson for attempting to file an amicus brief taking an opposite position than Schuette originally took on the issue of requiring the State of Michigan to supply bottled water to Flint residents who lack tap filters. Judge Lawson said it injected a "troubling ethical issue into helawsuit" and it suggested "superficial posturing" on behalf of Schuette.David Lat, January 26, 2017, ''Above the Law''
"Federal Judge Benchslaps Attorney General For 'Superficial Posturing'"
/ref> Schuette chose not to challenge incumbent

Dan Kildee Daniel Timothy Kildee (; born August 11, 1958) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Michigan's 5th congressional district since 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party. From 1977 to 2009, Kildee was a municipal ...

for his congressional seat in the redrawn district which includes Schuette's home of Midland in the 2022 midterm election.

2018 gubernatorial campaign

Schuette was widely believed to be planning to run for governor of Michigan. In July 2016, before speaking on the opening day of the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken L ...

Schuette changed the name of his fundraising committee from "Bill Schuette for Attorney General" to "Bill Schuette for Michigan." Despite being ineligible for a further term as Attorney General due to term-limits, Schuette had continued to raise funds since his November 2014 re-election. In December 2016, Schuette said he had not made up his mind on running for governor but would make a decision sometime in 2017. This is backed up by reports of a falling out between the Attorney General and Governor

Rick Snyder Richard Dale Snyder (born August 19, 1958) is an American business executive, venture capitalist, attorney, accountant, and politician who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Snyder previ ...

. On September 12, 2017, Schuette announced his campaign for governor in

. On August 7, 2018, Schuette won the Republican nomination for Michigan governor by defeating Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley and

state Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of ...

Patrick Colbeck. His candidacy was supported by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. On November 6, 2018, he lost the general election to Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, a former Michigan senate leader, by a nine-point margin.

Personal life

Schuette lives in

with his wife Cynthia. They have two children. One of Schuette's children, Bill G. Schuette was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2022.

Controversy

On July 3, 2018,

Ingham County Ingham County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 284,900. The county seat is Mason. Lansing, the state capital of Michigan, is largely located within the county. (Lansing is the only ...

prosecutor Carol Siemon requested a grand jury investigation (which was never conducted) to probe the sale of multimillion-dollar property inherited by Schuette in the Virgin Islands, to determine if any laws were violated. Schuette's spokesperson stated that the accusation was a "baseless attack on an attorney general with a strong ethical record". Schuette was working to strike down a ballot initiative to eliminate partisan gerrymandering, which has gained enough signatures to be on the Michigan ballot in the November 2018 election. The issue went on to the state supreme court, where "Five of the seven justices were nominated or appointed by Republicans, and two of those have received financial backing from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which also happens to be one of the main funders of the opposition campaign. Both justices have refused to recuse themselves from the case." The court upheld the inclusion of the initiative on the ballot which was approved by voters.

Electoral history

References

General

The Political Graveyard

Citations

External links

Campaign websiteProject Vote Smart – Bill Schuette
profile

profile * , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Schuette, Bill 1953 births 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians American people of Dutch descent Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Georgetown University alumni Living people Michigan Attorneys General Michigan Court of Appeals judges Michigan lawyers Republican Party Michigan state senators People from Midland, Michigan Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan State cabinet secretaries of Michigan University of San Francisco School of Law alumni Candidates in the 2018 United States elections