Former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman in a 2021 video promoting the partisan review of the 2020 election. (Screenshot/Office of the Special Counsel YouTube channel)
Former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman’s license to practice law in Wisconsin has been suspended for three years after a third-party referee agreed with the state Office of Lawyer Regulation’s allegations that he violated standards for professional conduct during his much-maligned review of the 2020 presidential election.
The suspension marks the conclusion of Gableman’s effort to fight attempts to hold him accountable for his conduct during the election investigation. The OLR found that while working on behalf of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to look into alleged wrongdoing during the election, Gableman lied to a Waukesha County judge about conversations he had with other attorneys, lied to an Assembly committee, deliberately violated state open records laws, used his agreement with Vos to pursue his own political interests, violated his duty of confidentiality to his client and lied in an affidavit to the OLR as it was investigating him.
Gableman’s investigation ultimately cost the state more than $2.3 million without finding any evidence to confirm President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of fraud during the 2020 election.
The review also helped further fan the flames of election conspiracy theories in the state. Those beliefs have remained prominent among segments of the state Republican Party’s base nearly five years after the election.
After fighting the allegations against him, Gableman ultimately reached an agreement with the OLR and stipulated that the allegations in the complaint against him were true.
In his report the referee, James Winiarski, wrote that the consequences for Gableman’s actions must be severe.
“A high level of discipline is needed to protect the public, the courts and the legal system from repetition of Attorney Gableman’s misconduct by Attorney Gableman or any other attorneys,” Winiarski wrote. “His misconduct was very public in nature and involved many members of the public and employees of several municipalities.”
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX