Elon Musk-Backed Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Thinks Women Are Too Emotional to Rule on Abortion

On Thursday, Schimel doubled down when asked about his comments. “It’s plainly clear that one of the justices, at least, was not able to stay objective. She had lost control of her emotions,” Schimel told reporters, again referring to video of the justices’ arguments. “Men do that, too, but she could not stay objective. In that case, she was literally yelling at an attorney.” 

The actual footage, reviewed and released by nonprofit newsroom Wisconsin Eye, shows all of the justices—including the three conservative justices—appearing to get relatively heated while discussing the abortion ban. One of them, liberal Jill Karofsky, argues that enforcing the 1849 law would mean “signing the death warrants” of women across the state. At no point does she yell or scream as Schimel suggests.

The four liberal justices issued a joint statement on Friday, characterizing Schmiel’s comments about them as “petty and personal attacks,” adding, “Unfortunately, Brad Schimel is showing he has an antiquated and distorted view of women. By suggesting that women get too emotional and are unfit to serve as judges and justices, he turns back decades of progress for women.” A spokesperson for Crawford’s campaign called Schimel’s comments “disgusting insults,” and “part of a pattern of disturbing behavior and extremism.” Haley McCoy, deputy communications director of Wisconsin Democrats, condemned Schimel’s “outdated insults” in a statement shared with Jezebel, claiming that he’s undermining “the authority of the Court before they hand down a ruling that doesn’t align with his personal political agenda.”

The current race is vital for reproductive rights, especially as Iowa, one of Wisconsin’s neighboring states, enforces a near-total abortion ban as of last summer. But the race has the potential to impact a range of issues. The court is slated to rule on redistricting efforts and could give Democrats two additional Congressional seats if liberals hold their majority. The liberal majority recently reinstated the use of absentee ballot drop boxes, which is key to making voting more accessible. In 2020, the court rejected a challenge from then-candidate Donald Trump to throw out hundreds of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots cast amid the covid pandemic. In response to how he would have ruled on Trump’s attempt to overthrow the Wisconsin election results, Schimel said, “I don’t know.” 

Crawford’s campaign has further criticized Schimel for his tenure as state attorney general, during which just nine of 6,000 rape kits in the state were processed in his first two years in office—before about 4,000 were tested shortly after he announced he would seek reelection in 2018. Schimel’s campaign responded with a statement claiming that Crawford is “lying and will happily do it at the expense of sexual assault survivors in her pursuit of power,” failing to offer an explanation for the concerns Crawford raised.

Also alarming, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is expected to rule on a case involving Musk’s company, Tesla, and whether car manufacturers can own dealerships, marking a pretty clear conflict of interest as Musk is funding Schimel’s campaign. As of the end of last month, Musk has poured at least $2.5 million behind Schimel, with the Associated Press recently reporting that a nonprofit funded by Musk simultaneously donated $1.6 million. Schimel has expressed gratitude for Musk’s support, and said he’ll follow judicial ethics rules if he wins the election and the Tesla case comes before the court—but he didn’t commit to recusing himself.

In 2024, Musk donated nearly $300 million to Trump’s campaign. He’s since repeatedly threatened to invest in primary opponents to any Congressional Republicans who don’t sufficiently vote with Trump, and invest in unseating Democrats across the country. 

To quote Musk posting on Twitter on any given day: Concerning!