Schmitt campaign photo draws ire of Missouri Supreme Court

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)

The Missouri Supreme Court says judges are "disappointed" that Attorney General Eric Schmitt's U.S. Senate campaign used a photo of Schmitt and three judges in a campaign mailer — without the judges' consent.

The court says in a news release on Friday that the photo was taken by a member of the attorney general's staff during a public event in August celebrating the state's bicentennial. The Missouri Constitution prohibits Supreme Court judges from engaging in political activity, and the court says the photo "should not be taken as such an endorsement despite the implication created by the mailer."

The news release says the incident will be reported, but it isn't clear to whom.

The mailer was not from Schmitt’s campaign but from a group supporting his bid for the Republican nomination in the August primary. A Schmitt campaign spokesman says the mailer “was an independent expenditure not authorized by Attorney General Eric Schmitt or his U.S. Senate campaign.”