State attorneys general have become a more and more important line of defense against an overreaching federal government. Conservative AGs have been active in trying to get courts to hold the Obama administration to the letter of the Constitution and statutory law. They are likely to become more and more involved in the battle for liberty of conscience.
So it’s especially important that conservatives choose smart, principled candidates for attorney general. Missouri conservatives face an especially stark choice in the race for the Republican nomination.
Josh Hawley, a native of the state, has defended religious liberty at the Becket Fund. He was co-counsel in the Hobby Lobby case, where his side triumphed at the Supreme Court in 2014. He teaches at the University of Missouri School of Law. He has also found time to write — and this is either a further recommendation, a full disclosure on our part, or both — for National Review and The Weekly Standard.
Kurt Schaefer is chairman of the state senate’s appropriations committee. He began his political career seeking a Democratic appointment to the state courts. Elected to the state senate as a Republican in 2008, he served two terms as “a moderate, even liberal” lawmaker. He opposed attempts to reform the judicial-selection process to reduce the influence of trial attorneys. He won the endorsement of the AFL-CIO.
For anyone who wants the attorney general to share conservative views, backing Hawley should not be a hard choice.
He has moved rightward as his ambitions have moved statewide. Even now, though, he opposes tort reform. Earlier this year he filibustered a bill to bring Missouri courts’ rules for expert testimony into line with most states and the federal government.
Schaefer says he is pro-life, and in recent days has been denouncing Planned Parenthood. He has also said, however, that he supports the status quo on abortion. He has supported embryo-destructive stem-cell research, including that involving cloned embryos. He was the only Republican to vote against a conscience-protection bill, and to vote to sustain the Democratic governor’s veto.
Hawley is a potential conservative superstar. Schaefer is a man whose merits do not appear to include any firm conservative convictions. Because of his position as an appropriator, Schaefer will be well-funded in the race. For anyone who wants the attorney general to share conservative views, though, backing Hawley should not be a hard choice.