Michael Gableman Image courtesy: WLUK
MADISON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz denied former Justice Michael Gableman’s request to remove herself from his disciplinary case.
A special referee appointed by the state Supreme Court recommended Gableman’s license be suspended for three years. It stems from his handling of an investigation into the 2020 presidential election — including actions involving Green Bay’s administration of the vote.
The six-page decision, issued Thursday, recounts Gableman’s claims about a June 2022 news from her campaign, and her legal analysis, with a determination she will stay on the case.
“My press release stated my beliefs about judicial independence, the rule of law, and Gableman’s fitness to hold judicial office. It did not address the matters now before the court. I am confident that I can, in fact and appearance, act impartially in this attorney disciplinary proceeding,” Justice Protasiewicz wrote. “Michael J. Gableman has failed to carry his burden of proving that I must recuse myself from this attorney disciplinary proceeding. Therefore, I deny his motion for my recusal.”
Previously, Justice Susan Crawford recused herself from the case, but Justice Rebecca Frank Dallet denied a similar request and stayed on the case. That means there will be six justices deciding Gableman’s discipline.
There is no timeline for a decision from the court.
Complaint linked to fruitless election probe
The complaint stems from Gableman’s investigation into allegations of fraud related to the 2020 election that Trump narrowly lost in Wisconsin. Under pressure from Trump, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos hired Gableman to lead the probe.
The investigation failed to uncover any widespread fraud, but drew bipartisan derision and cost taxpayers more than $2.3 million. Throughout the seven-month inquiry, Gableman was sued over his response to open records requests and subpoenas and countersued. He was ridiculed for scant expense records, criticized for sending confusing emails and making rudimentary errors in his filings and called out for meeting with conspiracy theorists.
Vos fired Gableman in 2022, calling him an “embarrassment” and saying he deserved to lose his law license. Gableman retaliated in 2024 by helping Trump backers trying to recall Vos from office, but they failed twice to gather enough valid signatures to force a vote.
Allegations include disrupting court, insulting attorneys, records violations
The OLR complaint accuses Gableman of making false statements, disrupting a court hearing, questioning a judge’s integrity, making derogatory remarks about opposing counsel, violating open records law and revealing information about representing Vos during the investigation while Gableman was promoting a failed effort to recall Vos from office.
According to the OLR complaint, Gableman tried to force the mayors of Madison and Green Bay to submit to depositions even though he had agreed the sessions wouldn’t be needed. He discussed private conversations he had with Vos about the investigation in videos supporting the recall effort in violation of attorney ethics and falsely accused election officials of trying to cover up how they used election grants from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Center for Tech and Civic Life group. The lawsuit against Green Bay was eventually dismissed, with no findings of improper activities.
He also practiced law while working on the investigation despite his claim to the contrary and destroyed public records that liberal group American Oversight had requested, the complaint says.
During a hearing before Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington on whether the records were inadvertently destroyed, Gableman accused Remington from the witness stand of railroading him into jail and acting as an advocate for American Oversight. While the court was in recess, Gableman was captured on a microphone making sarcastic comments about Remington and American Oversight attorney Christa Westerberg’s ability to do her job without Remington’s help.
Remington found Gableman in contempt of court for not complying with open records laws. The judge forwarded the contempt order to the OLR. Attorneys from the liberal law firm Law Forward also requested sanctions against Gableman in 2023.
Law Forward’s president, Jeff Mandell, said in a statement reacting to the stipulation that the firm was “glad to see consequences for those who plan and promote overturning the will of the people.”
Gableman served on the Supreme Court for a single term
Gableman was a member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 2008 to 2018 and joined with the conservative majority in several major rulings, including one that upheld the state law that effectively ended collective bargaining for public workers.
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