Republican Brad Schimel is running for attorney general in the Nov. 4 election against Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ.

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Madison — Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel said he would have reluctantly defended a ban on interracial marriage had he been attorney general in the 1950s — a stance Democrats criticized Wednesday.

Schimel, a Republican, is running for attorney general in the Nov. 4 election against Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ, a Democrat.

For months, Schimel has said he would have defended the state's ban on gay marriage in court because the attorney general is obligated to uphold state laws and provisions in the state constitution.

As he discussed his stance on that issue last month on an Oshkosh cable access program, he was asked if it would have been his obligation to defend a ban on interracial marriage if he had been an attorney general in a state with such a law 60 years ago.

He sighed and said, "Yeah, it is."

"It might be distasteful to me ...but I've got to stay consistent with that — as the state's lawyer, it's not my job to pick and choose."

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 ruled Virginia's ban on interracial marriage was unconstitutional.

Democrats on Wednesday blasted Schimel for that line of reasoning.

"I think what it reveals to me is an absence of something that is core to this position (of attorney general) and that is to stand up to the Legislature and governor when they trample on people's constitutional rights," said state Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison).

Responding to the criticism, Schimel issued a statement Wednesday that said: "Love and the law are colorblind, as they should be. Many shameful, racist laws were changed over the course of time in this country by legislators, the courts and the people's direct votes. But if Susan Happ wants to make up new laws, or change old ones, she's running for the wrong job."

Schimel has criticized Happ because she has said she would not defend the state's ban on gay marriage, its voter ID law and a requirement that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where they practice. Schimel has said he would have defended all those laws and would have had no choice to do otherwise.

Wisconsin's ban on same-sex marriage ended this week, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review rulings striking down bans here and in four other states.

The voter ID law was blocked for 21/2 years but was recently reinstated by a panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The requirement is to be in place for next month's election.

The abortion law has been put on hold as U.S. District Judge William Conley in Madison determines whether it is constitutional. He is expected to rule any time.

On the Oshkosh program, Schimel also reversed his position on how he would have handled a domestic partnership case. In June, he said he would have followed Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's lead and refused to defend a 2009 law that gave same-sex couples some but not all of the rights of married couples.

In the more recent interview, he said he had made a "mistake" in saying that he would not defend the law.

"I did some research after I got out of that (summer interview) and I changed my position on that," he said.

The interview was taped Sept. 5, a month after the state Supreme Court unanimously upheld the partnership law.

Happ issued a statement saying Schimel had flip-flopped and that an attorney general is not a robot who should blindly defend laws they consider unconstitutional.

"I am sworn to enforce the law, but also to uphold the constitution," Happ said in her statement. "There is a place for independent judgment by the attorney general. Apparently, Brad Schimel disagrees."

Social conservatives sued over the domestic partnership law in 2010, arguing it violated the state constitution's ban on gay marriage and similar arrangements. Van Hollen refused to defend the measure, and Madison attorney Lester Pines was hired to do that work. GOP Gov. Scott Walker later fired Pines, and defending the registry was left up to Fair Wisconsin, a gay rights group that intervened in the case.

Schimel said in June he agreed with Van Hollen's move.

The courts backed the domestic partnership law at every turn. It was found to be in keeping with the state constitution by a Dane County judge and a unanimous Court of Appeals before the Supreme Court upheld it.