Referee Recommends Michael Gableman Lose License For 3 Years

A court-appointed referee is recommending that former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman lose his law license for three years because of several ethics violations during his failed investigation into the 2020 election.

The report from attorney James Winiarski of Milwaukee, who was appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, lists 10 counts against Gableman from his time leading the Office of Special Counsel Investigation.

Gableman was hired by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, in 2021 to lead an investigation into the state’s 2020 election results. The move followed intense scrutiny from President Donald Trump, who was making false claims about widespread voter fraud in states like Wisconsin.

The report states Gableman committed 10 violations of Wisconsin Supreme Court ethics rules during his time as special counsel, which Winiarski described as “most serious.” Those include refusing to tell a judge about his attempts to compel mayors in Green Bay and Madison to provide records and testimony, accusing Dane County Judge Frank Remington of bias, making demeaning statements about an opposing attorney in court and enlisting the public to pressure Vos to expand the scope, cost and time frame of his investigation.

“The misconduct involved the Mayors of Madison and Green Bay and involved public statements that were deliberately false,” Winiarski said. “The misconduct also involved multiple false statements of material facts in public testimony by Attorney Gableman. His misconduct included disrupting a courtroom with great disrespect for the Judge, including false statements concerning the Judge’s integrity and alleged bias. Attorney Gableman also made false, derogatory, and demeaning, public statements about opposing counsel.”

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said in a statement, “now more than ever, we need to defend our democratic elections and demand accountability from those who would undermine them.”

“I’m glad to see that there are consequences for conducting a sloppy investigation that disregarded basic legal procedures and wasted taxpayer dollars,” Rhodes-Conway said.

When he released his findings from his investigation in 2022, Gableman told state lawmakers they “ought to take a very hard look” at decertifying the election results, which was widely dismissed as legally impossible.

Winiarski’s report also cited Gableman’s failure to maintain public records and his claim to the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation that “he never engaged in the practice of law” while serving as special counsel.

“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 said. “His misconduct was very public in nature and involved many members of the public and employees of several municipalities.”

Winiarski did note that while Gableman initially denied allegations in the disciplinary case against him and refused to sit for a deposition, he eventually pled no contest to the findings and agreed with the suggestion that he lose his law license for three years.

Liberal firm Law Forward filed an ethics complaint against Gableman in 2023, parts of which co-founder and general counsel Jeff Mandell told WPR led to Winiarski’s report. Mandell said he doesn’t think a three-year suspension is enough for the “ethical violations that attorney Gableman engaged in and the harm that it posed to Wisconsin and to our democracy.”

“It seems that if the conduct here, both in its breadth and in its severity, does not merit a revocation of his bar license, then there is virtually no conduct that would ever merit revoking someone’s bar license,” Mandell said.

Gableman’s investigation faced several lawsuits regarding his failure to maintain public records, which brought the expedition’s total cost to taxpayers to nearly $2.5 million, according to a review by WisPolitics. In July 2022, Gableman was briefly held in contempt of court for an outburst against Judge Remington, in which he said the judge “abandoned is role as a neutral magistrate and is acting as an advocate.” Gableman was also caught on a live microphone attacking attorney Christa Westerberg, as she represented the liberal watchdog American Oversight.

In a statement, American Oversight Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said Gableman “abused his power, aiming to erode trust in our democracy.”

“His misogynistic treatment of our counsel, attacks on a judge, defiance of court orders, and disregard for Wisconsin’s open records statute reflect a flagrant contempt for the rule of law,” Chukwu said. “We urge the Wisconsin Supreme Court to follow the special referee’s recommendation and impose the three year suspension Mr. Gableman richly deserves.”

Despite being hired by Vos, Gableman turned on the Assembly speaker and supported efforts to recall him from his Assembly seat in 2024. After Vos narrowly won the recall, he called Gableman “an embarrassment to all lawyers in Wisconsin” and said he hoped Gableman “loses his law license.”

“I hope he goes back to work at Home Depot, where he was working prior to working for us,” Vos said at the time.

Neither Gableman or Vos immediately responded Friday to requests for comment on the referee report.

Following Winiarski’s report, it will fall on the current members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to decide whether the recommendation that Gableman temporarily lose his license to practice law is appropriate. The court currently has a 4-3 liberal majority.

Listen to the WPR report

Court-appointed referee recommends Michael Gableman lose law license for 3 years was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.