Derek Larkin Schmidt (born January 23, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the Kansas Attorney General from 2011 to 2023. A Republican, Schmidt was first elected to office serving in the Kansas Senate, where he represented the 15th district from 2001 to 2011, and served as Agriculture Committee chairman and Senate

majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

. Schmidt became the state attorney general in 2011, after he defeated incumbent

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Stephen Six Stephen N. Six (born December 11, 1965) is an American attorney and former judge from Kansas who served as the state's 43rd Attorney General. He was nominated to serve as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on Mar ...

. Schmidt was the Republican nominee for

governor of Kansas A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

in the 2022 election, which he won the primary but lost to incumbent Democrat

Laura Kelly Laura Jeanne Kelly (born January 24, 1950)"Laura Kelly,"
''Kansapedia,''

in the general.

Early life and career

Schmidt graduated from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

with a bachelor's degree in 1990, received a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in international politics from the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

in England, and received his J.D. degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. Schmidt was then a

legislative assistant A legislative assistant (LA) or legislative analyst is a person who works for a legislator as a legislative staffer, a government agency as a legislative affairs professional, or in the government relations and regulatory affairs industry by monitor ...

to Republican U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, an assistant Kansas attorney general and special counsel to Governor

Bill Graves William Preston Graves (born January 9, 1953) is an American former politician who was the 43rd governor of Kansas from 1995 until 2003. Career Graves was born in Salina, Kansas to parents who owned a trucking firm. After graduating from Kans ...

Kansas State Senate

Schmidt was elected to the Kansas Senate in 2000.Tim Carpenter
Schmidt ousts Six in AG race
''Topeka Capital-Journal'' (November 2, 2010). In 2004, Schmidt was elected the Senate

majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

, holding this post through 2010. During his time in the Kansas Senate, Schmidt sponsored an unsuccessful proposal to repeal the state's ban on for-profit prisons. Schmidt was a supporter of the highly popular Kansas version of

Jessica's Law Jessica's Law is the informal name given to a 2005 Florida law, as well as laws in several other states, designed to protect potential victims and reduce a sexual offender's ability to re-offend. A version of Jessica's Law, known as the Jessica ...

, but "almost single-handedly killed the final bill by demanding inclusion of a provision allowing private prisons in Kansas" as the town of Yates Center, in Schmidt's district, sought to bring a private prison to the town. According to

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

, top contributors to Schmidt's campaigns included the Community Bankers Association,

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

, the Kansas Association of Realtors, the Kansas Optometric Association,

Cox Enterprises Cox Enterprises, Inc. is a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major operating subsidiaries are Cox Communications and Co ...

, Koch Industries, Monsanto, the Kansas Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association, the Associated General Contractors of Kansas, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, and

Sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

.Derek Larkin Schmidt

(last accessed September 19, 2020).

Kansas Attorney General

Elections

Schmidt was the Republican nominee for Kansas Attorney General, defeating Ralph DeZago in the Republican

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

on August 3, 2010. He won the general election against the incumbent, Democrat Steve Six and took office on January 10, 2011. A key issue in Schmidt's first campaign for attorney general was the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

(ACA), the

health care reform Health care reform is for the most part governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place. Health care reform typically attempts to: * Broaden the population that receives health care coverage through either public sector insur ...

law. Six chose not to join 25 other states in challenging the constitutionality of the ACA, while Schmidt pledged to join the lawsuit challenging the law, if elected. Schmidt won re-election in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, defeating Democratic nominee A.J. Kotich, a labor lawyer and former chief attorney for the Kansas Department of Labor. In 2018, Schmidt defeated Democratic nominee Sarah G. Swain, winning election to a third term.

Coronavirus response

In April 2020, Democratic governor

Laura Kelly Laura Jeanne Kelly (born January 24, 1950)"Laura Kelly,"
''Kansapedia,''

instituted orders to restrict the rapid spread of COVID-19 that limited public gatherings to a maximum of ten persons. As this would have applied to Easter Sunday celebrations in churches, the Republican-majority Legislative Coordinating Council reversed her order. Republican Schmidt also opposed Kelly's order, contending that it violated the Kansas Constitution and Kansas law. He issued a memo calling the order likely unconstitutional and urged law enforcement not to enforce it.War over Easter: Kansas lawmakers revoke Gov. Kelly's order limiting church gatherings
''

Wichita Eagle ''The Wichita Eagle'' is a daily newspaper published in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and is the largest newspaper in Wichita and the surrounding area. History Origins In 1870, ''The Vidette'' was the fi ...

'', Jonathan Shorman, Amy Renee Leiker and Michael Stavola, April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 9, 2020. Of the first eleven loci of contagion in Kansas, three had already been traced to religious gatherings. The Kansas Supreme Court reinstated Kelly's orders on April 11, in expedited proceedings. A week later, in a separate case, U.S. District Judge

John W. Broomes John Wesley Broomes (born 1969) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Biography Broomes earned his Bachelor of Science, with high honors, from the University of Texas at Austin. He rec ...

in Wichita issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of Kelly's order as to two churches (one in Junction City, the other in Dodge City), where the plaintiffs contended that the restriction violated religious freedom and free speech rights.Carylynn Stark & Jonathan Shorman
Kansas governor to issue less restrictive coronavirus rules beginning May 4
''Kansas City Star'' (April 25, 2020). That case became moot after Governor Kelly issued a new executive order with less restrictive COVID-19 rules effective on May 4, 2020, under an agreement that allowed the churches to hold larger in-person services but required social distancing. Schmidt and Republican officials acted to countermand the governor's orders concerning wearing masks and social distancing. A study published in the ''

Journal of the American Medical Association ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of bio ...

'' found that Kansas counties that had passed

mask mandates During the COVID-19 pandemic, face masks or coverings, including N95, FFP2, surgical, and cloth masks, have been employed as public and personal health control measures against the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In co ...

experienced 500 fewer COVID-19 deaths than would have otherwise been expected in the absence of such restrictions.

Obama administration

Lawsuits challenging Obama administration policies

As attorney general, Schmidt joined with other Republican state attorneys general in challenging federal regulatory actions adopted by the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

that Schmidt contended were illegal federal overreach. Schmidt and his colleagues were successful in blocking many of these regulations, particularly those proposed by the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

. Kansas challenged Obama-era regulations on the oil and gas industry, including a regulation controlling emissions of the

greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbs and Emission (electromagnetic radiation), emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse ...

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

; in 2015, Schmidt also joined Kansas in a suit challenging the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan. In the latter case, the Supreme Court issued in 2016 a stay of implementation in a 5–4 decision along ideological lines. One of Schmidt's first acts as state attorney general was to add Kansas as a plaintiff to the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...

and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 in ''

Florida v. United States Department of Health and Human Services ''National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius'', 567 U.S. 519 (2012), was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court upheld Congress's power to enact most provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable C ...

''; in a letter, Schmidt wrote that the ACA's

individual mandate An individual mandate is a requirement by law for certain persons to purchase or otherwise obtain a good or service. United States Militia act The Militia Acts of 1792, based on the Constitution's militia clause (in addition to its affirmative ...

would "encroach on the sovereignty of the State of Kansas and on the rights of our citizens." The

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, in ''

National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius ''National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius'', 567 U.S. 519 (2012), was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court upheld Congress's power to enact most provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Car ...

'' (2012), ultimately upheld most of the ACA as constitutional, while striking down a portion of the law which would have required states to implement Medicaid expansion. In July 2017, Schmidt joined a group of eight other Republican state attorneys general, led by Ken Paxton of Texas, as well as Idaho Governor

Butch Otter Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter (born May 3, 1942) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 32nd governor of Idaho from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2006, and reelected in 2010, and 2014. Otter ...

, in sending a letter to President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

saying that they would litigate if Trump did not terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy that had been put into place by the Obama administration. (One of the signatories, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III, subsequently reversed his position and urged passage of the DREAM Act.)

Same-sex marriage

Schmidt defended Kansas in a lawsuit brought by the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

, seeking to invalidate Kansas's ban on same-sex marriage and its prohibition of allowing same-sex couples to change the names on state drivers' licenses to reflect their married names, receive spousal health benefits, or file joint state

tax return A tax return is the completion of documentation that calculates an entity or individual's income earned and the amount of taxes to be paid to the government or government organizations or, potentially, back to the taxpayer. Taxation is one of ...

s. In 2014, after the chief district judge of Johnson County (the most populous county in the state) ordered the state to issue licenses to same-sex couples, Schmidt filed a petition in the

Kansas Supreme Court The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the state of Kansas. Composed of seven justices, led by Chief Justice Marla Luckert, the court supervises the legal profession, administers the judicial branch, and serves as the sta ...

and obtained a temporary halt to the issuance of licenses to same-sex couples pending a hearing.Health Hollingsworth
Judge orders Kansas to let gay couples marry
Associated Press (November 4, 2014).Kansas AG Derek Schmidt dismisses state court case against gay marriage
Associated Press (July 1, 2015). However, in November 2014, a federal district judge ordered the state to allow same-sex couples to marry.Bryan Lowry

''Wichita Eagle'' (November 12, 2014). Schmidt petitioned the

to block the order, but the Court denied his request. In 2015, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, Schmidt dropped his Kansas Supreme Court case against same-sex marriage.

Planned Parenthood

In ''

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

of Kansas and Mid-Missouri v. Andersen'' (2018), the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Distri ...

ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood, who challenged the decision of Kansas government officials to terminate

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...

contracts with the organization. The court of appeals held that "States may not terminate providers from their Medicaid program for any reason they see fit, especially when that reason is unrelated to the provider's competence and the quality of the health care it provides."
Planned Parenthood of Kansas v. Andersen
', 882 F.3d 1205 (10th Cir. 2018), ''cert. denied'', 139 S. Ct. 638 (2018). Schmidt strongly opposed the decision, as well as a similar one made by the

Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district courts in the following United Stat ...

in the Louisiana case of ''Gee v. Planned Parenthood of Gulf Coast''. Schmidt asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Tenth Circuit's decision, but in December 2018, the Supreme Court denied his petition for a writ of certiorari. The state paid three East Coast law firms $899,000. One of the firms, Consovoy, McCarthy, Park, a Washington D.C. practice which was also representing President Trump in his efforts to prevent the release of his financial records, received $396,000 from Kansas. The firms were charging between $492 per hour to $750 an hour. Average billing rates for Kansas law firms handling such a case would have been $244 hourly.

Marijuana

In 2015, Schmidt asked the Kansas Supreme Court to strike down a ballot measure, approved by voters in Wichita, that created a city ordinance reducing marijuana possession enforcement in the city. The measure specifically reduced the penalty for persons over 21 charged with a first marijuana possession offense (moving it from a Class A criminal misdemeanor to a civil infraction carrying a $50 fine). Schmidt asserted that the voter imitative was barred because it conflicted with uniform state law, a claim that the city disputed. The Kansas Supreme Court struck down the city ordinance in 2016; the court did not address Schmidt's argument that the local law conflicted with state law, but rather based its decision on a technical error, ruling that the petitioners' filing of the proposed ordinance with the city clerk was improper. In January 2018, Schmidt issued an opinion stating that all forms of marijuana, including cannabidiol (CBD oil) are unlawful in Kansas.Compound in marijuana now legal in Kansas with caveat
Associated Press (June 9, 2018). Later in 2018, the state legislature voted to amend the state-law definition of marijuana to exclude CBD products without THC. In 2019, Schmidt was one of 17 state attorneys general who did not sign onto a letter from 33 state attorneys general in support of U.S. Representative

Ed Perlmutter Edwin George Perlmutter (born May 1, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, his district is located in the northern and western suburbs of the Denver metropolitan area ...

's Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act (H.R. 1595), a

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

to allow marijuana-related businesses in states and territories in which marijuana is legal to use the banking system. The bill would facilitate the collection of taxes levied on the $8.3 billion industry, reduce the danger of operating cash-only businesses and more effectively monitor the industry.

Election litigation

State Objections Board proceedings about Obama's birth certificate

Despite numerous judges across the U.S. having rejected challenges to the natural-born citizenship of

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, since before he was elected president in 2008, Kansas Secretary of State

Kris Kobach Kris William Kobach ( ; born March 26, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who is the Attorney General of Kansas. He previously served as the 31st Secretary of State of Kansas. A former Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, Kobach came ...

persistently demanded proof of citizenship before allowing Obama's name to appear on the 2012 Kansas presidential ballot. In September 2012, while leading the three-person State Objections Board, and supported by its other members, Kansas Secretary of State

Jeff Colyer Jeffrey William Colyer (born June 3, 1960) is an American surgeon and politician who served as the 47th governor of Kansas from January 31, 2018, to January 14, 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 49th lieutenant governor of Kans ...

and Schmidt, Kobach requested additional evidence that Obama was actually born in Hawaii. In September 2012, the three heard arguments on a claim from a Manhattan, Kansas resident, Joe Montgomery, who claimed that Obama was not eligible to be president because his father was from

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and questioned whether the president had a valid birth certificate. As head of the Board, Kobach requested additional evidence that Obama was actually born in Hawaii. The Board asserted that it lacked sufficient evidence to determine whether Obama was eligible to appear on the Kansas ballot as a candidate in 2012 and that they needed to review Obama's birth certificate and other documents from Hawaii, Arizona, and Mississippi before they could respond to the resident's complaint. The challenge, backed by high-profile conspiracist

Orly Taitz Orly Taitz ( he, אורלי טייץ; born August 30, 1960) is an Israeli-American political conspiracy theorist and political candidate. A dentist, lawyer, and former real estate agent, Taitz was a figure in the "birther" movement, which promo ...

, was eventually dropped but showed the continuing presence of the "birther" movement. In an editorial, the ''

'' criticized Kobach for entertaining conspiracy theories that "made Kansas look ridiculous" and criticized Colyer and Schmidt for failing to promptly toss the birther challenge.

2014 U.S. Senate race

Schmidt joined forces with Republican

, then-Kansas Secretary of State, in filing a brief in support of a lawsuit seeking to force the

Kansas Democratic Party The Kansas Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Kansas and one of two major parties in the state, alongside the Republicans. The chair of the party is Vicki Hiatt. The party currently controls the state's gove ...

to field a candidate in the 2014 U.S. Senate general election. If the Democrats were forced to field a candidate, it was anticipated to have decreased the chances of independent candidate

Greg Orman Gregory John Orman (born December 2, 1968) is an American politician, businessman, and entrepreneur. He ran as an independent to represent Kansas in the United States Senate in the 2014 election, earning 42.5 percent of the vote and losing to i ...

(who was supported by Democrats) of defeating incumbent Republican Pat Roberts in the 2014 election.Dave Helling
Shawnee County District Court panel rules Democrats don't have to put Senate nominee on ballot
''Kansas City Star'' (October 1, 2014). The suit was unanimously rejected by a three-judge panel of the Kansas District Court in Shawnee County.

State Objections Board proceedings about Michael Capps

Michael Capps filed to run in 2018 for the Kansas House District 97 seat using an address on the south side of Wichita.GOP appoints Michael Capps to empty Kansas House seat; Democrats push for grand jury probe
''

'', Chance Swaim, July 21, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019. However, months before the election, Representative Chuck Weber, the incumbent in heavily Republican House District 85, that included part of north Wichita, and also suburbs to the north and northeast withdrew from his re-election run, and gave notice of his resignation, effective July 14, 2018. Then Capps changed his campaign filing, running instead for the District 85 seat, giving a north Wichita address, with a business mailing address of 6505 East Central Avenue, #110. Capps claimed he resided the Governeour street address, though the home was scheduled to be sold at auction on June 27, 2018. Democrats alleged Capps did not actually live at that address. However, the Kansas Objections Board, composed of Republicans Lieutenant Governor

Tracey Mann Tracey Robert Mann (born December 17, 1976) is an American businessman and politician who has served as the U.S. representative from Kansas's 1st congressional district since 2021. The district, popularly known as "the Big First," includes par ...

, Kansas Secretary of State

and Schmidt, refused to uphold the complaint. The Sedgwick County Republican Central Committee appointed Capps to fill the remainder of Weber's 85th District term. When a

reporter went to the home in the wake of October 2019 accusations about a fabricated attack video made by Capps against Wichita mayoral runoff candidate

Brandon Whipple Brandon Whipple (born July 13, 1982) is an American politician and academic serving as mayor of Wichita, Kansas. He previously served as a Democratic member of the Kansas House of Representatives representing the 96th district, which included p ...

, an unidentified young man living there said he was "house sitting" and hadn't seen Capps, "in a while." Marc Bennett, District Attorney of Sedgwick County, petitioned to have Capps removed from office after an investigation of child abuse caused him to be decertified and removed as a

Court Appointed Special Advocate Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is a national association in the United States that supports and promotes court-appointed advocates for abused or neglected children. CASA are volunteers from the community who complete training that has ...

. Schmidt answered that he did not possess the authority to remove Capps. as Kansas law limits removal of a state House member to four methods: Election defeat, expulsion by a vote of the Kansas House, expiration of the representative's term of office, or recall election. Schmidt noted state law forbids recall elections in the last two hundred days of a representative's term and since the legislature would not meet before the election, it could not expel Capps. In 2020, Capps lost the Republican primary to Patrick Penn, who received 74.4%, 3,349 votes.

Joining challenge to 2020 presidential election results

On December 8, 2020, Ken Paxton, the Republican

Texas Attorney General The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer
of the

, sued the states of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania (four swing states won by Joe Biden, who defeated President

) seeking to overturn the election results. Schmidt, as well as 15 other Republican state attorneys general, joined Texas's suit, ''

Texas v. Pennsylvania ''Texas v. Pennsylvania'', 592 U.S. ___ (2020), was a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the administration of the 2020 presidential election in certain states, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump. Fil ...

'', which was filed directly in the U.S. Supreme Court. The suit, supported by Trump and 120 Republican members of Congress, alleged unconstitutional actions in the four states' presidential ballot tallies and repeated claims of

election fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

, that remained unsubstantiated, and which had already been rejected by other state and federal courts. In the suit, Paxton asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the states' sixty-two electoral votes, allowing Trump to be declared the winner of a second presidential term. Legal experts, as well as attorney generals from the four states, criticized the suit as meritless and politically motivated. The Supreme Court quickly rejected the suit in an unsigned opinion on December 11. The ''

'' editorial board criticized Schmidt for having "signed our state's name to an embarrassing and baseless lawsuit aimed at overturning the presidential election" and noted that the ''amicus'' brief to which Schmidt signed "expanded voting rules in the four targeted states, even though Kansas employs many of the same procedures."

Biden administration

In March 2021, Schmidt joined 11 other Republican state attorneys general in a lawsuit against the Biden administration, challenging a January 2021 Biden executive order aimed at mitigating climate change and incentivizing

green job Green jobs (green-collar jobs, sustainability jobs, eco jobs or environmental jobs) are, according to the United Nations Environment Program, "work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development (R&D), administrative, and serv ...

s. The order directed federal agencies to consider, in environmental rulemaking, the

social cost Social cost in neoclassical economics is the sum of the private costs resulting from a transaction and the costs imposed on the consumers as a consequence of being exposed to the transaction for which they are not compensated or charged. In other w ...

(economic damages) caused by emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon, methane, and

nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has a ...

); revoked the permit for the

Keystone XL Pipeline The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Albert ...

; and temporarily prohibited drilling in the

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States on traditional Gwich'in lands. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest national wildlife ...

. Schmidt claimed that the order would be "job-killing" and alleged that Biden lacked the constitutional authority to implement new rules about greenhouse gases. Schmidt also joined 20 other Republican state attorneys general in objecting to voting rights legislation passed by the

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

, alleging violations of the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

and an intrusion on states' rights to manage elections. The attorneys general vowed to challenge the bill in court, should it become law. On June 17, in a 7–2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an attack on Medicare, ruling that the petitioners lacked standing. Schmidt had once again joined in an action brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Other

In 2016, Schmidt created a new Fraud and Abuse Litigation Division to prosecute financial crimes and elder abuse. In 2017, Schmidt's colleagues elected him to serve a one-year term beginning in 2018 as president of the

National Association of Attorneys General The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of state and territory attorneys general in the United States. NAAG is governed by member attorneys general, with a president and executive committee se ...

(NAAG), an office which rotates on a regional basis. Schmidt hired

Toby Crouse Toby Jon Crouse (born 1975) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. He was formerly the Solicitor General of Kansas. Biography Crouse graduated from Kansas State University in 1997 wit ...

as the Kansas Solicitor General. Crouse left the office after being appointed by Trump to the Kansas federal district court. Schmidt has given oral argument several times on behalf of the State of Kansas in the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

.Kalvis Golde
Three grants and you're out (of coffee)
''SCOTUSblog'' (October 5, 2019). Schmidt successfully argued two Supreme Court cases involving the death penalty: ''

Kansas v. Cheever ''Kansas v. Cheever'', 571 U.S. 87 (2013), was a United States Supreme Court case in which a unanimous Court held that the Fifth Amendment does not prevent the prosecution from introducing psychiatric evidence to rebut psychiatric evidence pres ...

'' (argued and decided in 2013) and ''

Kansas v. Carr ''Kansas v. Carr'', 577 U.S. ___ (2016), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States clarified several procedures for sentencing defendants in capital cases. Specifically, the Court held that judges are not required to affirmativel ...

'' (argued in 2015 and decided in 2016). Schmidt also gave oral argument in the Supreme Court case ''

Kansas v. Garcia ''Kansas v. Garcia'', 589 U.S. ___ (2020), was a case of the United States Supreme Court that was decided, by a 5–4 majority, in 2020. The case concerned whether it was lawful for a State to enforce laws criminalizing the making of fraudulent re ...

'' (argued 2019 and decided 2020), in which the Court held, 5–4, that the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) does not preempt "Kansas's application of its state identity-theft and fraud statutes to the noncitizens in this case."

Campaign for Kansas governor

In March 2021, Schmidt became the first major Republican candidate to enter the race against incumbent Democrat Laura Kelly for

in the 2022 election cycle. Schmidt named former

Kansas Republican Party The Kansas Republican Party is the state affiliate political party in Kansas of the United States Republican Party. The Kansas Republican Party was organized in May 1859. At the state level, the party is largely split between its moderate and con ...

Chairman

Kelly Arnold Kelly Arnold is an American politician serving as the Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County Clerk. He is in his third term, having first been elected in 2008. From January 2013 to February 2019, Kelly served as the chairman of the Kansas Republ ...

as his campaign treasurer. A Schmidt-aligned political action committee, Our Way of Life PAC, launched the previous week and announced plans to spend money in a push to unite Republicans around Schmidt. One of Schmidt's opponents in the Republican

was former governor

, but Colyer dropped out of the race for the nomination due to ill health in August 2021, and endorsed Schmidt. Schmidt said he would "welcome" the support of former president

in the race and said he felt Trump's agenda "was very good for Kansas." Schmidt was endorsed by Colyer and Trump, and also by former vice-president

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

and former secretary of state

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...

. Several months before

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...

died in December 2021, he issued an endorsement of Schmidt for governor, jointly with his fellow former senator Pat Roberts. Schmidt did not receive the endorsement of three of his former Republican superiors: former governor

, former United States Senator Nancy Kassebaum, and former Kansas Attorney General

Carla Stovall Carla J. Stovall (born March 18, 1957, Hardtner, Kansas) - also known as Carla Stovall Steckline - is a Republican politician from Marion, Kansas who served as Attorney General of the State of Kansas from 1995 to 2003. During her tenure, she ...

. They all endorsed Kelly in the race, as Graves and Kassebaum had done four years earlier against a different Republican nominee.

Electoral history

References

External links

Project Vote Smart profile
* Follow the Money campaign contributions *
20002002200420062008

Governor Campaign website
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Derek 1968 births 21st-century American politicians Alumni of the University of Leicester Georgetown University Law Center alumni Kansas Attorneys General Republican Party Kansas state senators Living people University of Kansas alumni Candidates in the 2022 United States elections