Eric Stephen Schmitt[1] (born June 20, 1975) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Missouri since 2023.

On November 13, 2018, Governor Mike Parson named Schmitt attorney general of Missouri after the incumbent, Josh Hawley, was elected to the United States Senate.

As AG, he filed lawsuits to have the Affordable Care Act invalidated by courts and sued school districts and municipalities for implementing mask requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede, Schmitt joined other Republicans in falsely claiming fraud.

He challenged the administration's policies, and signed onto an amicus brief that argued that LGBT people are not protected by workplace discrimination bans.

He graduated from DeSmet Jesuit High School in 1993 and from Truman State University in 1997, with a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in political science.

[32][33][34] Governor Mike Parson appointed Schmitt to the office of Attorney General of Missouri to succeed Josh Hawley, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018.

[36][37][38] After Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment to expand Medicaid coverage in the state, he argued that Republican lawmakers and Governor Mike Parson could legally refuse to implement the expansion.

[55] In July 2022, U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. dismissed the suit for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, noting that the defendants enjoyed sovereign immunity.

[59] In 2021, Schmitt sued the Biden administration, challenging its decision to suspend new oil and gas leases on federal land and water.

[60] He and 13 other Republican state attorneys general also participated in a lawsuit seeking to block a Biden executive order directing federal agencies to consider the social costs of emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon, methane and nitrous oxide) in regulatory cost-benefit analyses.

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.

In 2020, the suit ended in a settlement in which the city agreed to maintain a compliance program and have its state officials undergo training on the law.

[74] On July 21, 2020, Schmitt filed "friend of the court" (amicus briefs) that argued that "Missouri's statutes specifically authorize Missouri citizens to use firearms to deter assailants and protect themselves, their families, and homes from threatening or violent intruders" and requested dismissal of cases filed by prosecutor Kimberly Gardner against Patricia and Mark Thomas McCloskey for brandishing firearms at protesters who had trespassed on their property while marching in St. Louis in 2020.

[80] 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.

[81] In 2022, Schmitt and Jeff Landry sued the federal government, claiming it was censoring anti-vaccine activism on social media, with The Gateway Pundit among the co-plaintiffs.

In the decision, Amy Coney Barrett found no evidence of government coercion and wrote that plaintiffs cannot "manufacture standing" based on hypothetical or self-inflicted harm.

[85] In 2022, Schmitt was among 22 Republican state attorneys general who filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over a program that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools that receive federal funds.

[87] After Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Schmitt's office supported the Trump campaign's attempt to invalidate ballots it claimed were illegally cast in Pennsylvania.

[95][96] Election law expert Rick Hasen called the lawsuit "the dumbest case I've ever seen filed on an emergency basis at the Supreme Court".

[100] Schmitt has fought against motions calling for the release of Lamar Johnson, who was convicted for murder on the basis of a single eyewitness's testimony.

[107] Schmitt's assistant attorney general, Andrew Clarke, said their office believes Strickland to be guilty, that he should remain incarcerated, and that he had "worked to evade responsibility".

[108] In August 2021, Schmitt's office issued a subpoena requiring the Jackson County prosecutor to turn over any communication with third parties regarding the case, a demand she characterized as harassment.

[104] Schmitt attempted to dismiss hearings on Michael Politte's conviction in Washington County after the prosecuting attorney filed a motion saying physical evidence from the 23-year-old case had been "scientifically proven false".

[111] In September 2022, Schmitt filed a lawsuit on behalf of MOHELA to block President Biden's student debt relief plan.

[112] In 2016, Schmitt joined 23 other Republican members of the State Senate in voting in favor of SB 656, a bill that removed the requirement for a permit to open carry and added a "stand your ground" provision.

[119] In April 2022, Schmitt repeated a Great Replacement-derived claim on Glenn Beck's program that the Democratic Party seeks to "fundamentally" change the country through illegal immigration to the United States.

[125] Schmitt was among the 31 Senate Republicans who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, a bill to raise the debt ceiling.