Justice Crawford Recuses From Gableman Proceedings

Liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Susan Crawford is recusing herself from disciplinary proceedings against former conservative Justice Michael Gableman.

Her decision not to hear the case leaves the court with a 3-3 split between liberals and conservatives as justices decide whether to suspend Gableman’s law license over several ethics violations during his failed investigation into the 2020 election.

Last month, a court-appointed referee for the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation recommended Gableman lose his license for three years. The referee cited unethical conduct by Gableman during his time as head of the Office of Special Counsel investigating the 2020 election results.

Among the violations cited were Gableman’s refusal 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 fomenting public pressure aimed at getting Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, to expand the scope, time frame and cost of his investigation.

Galbeman did not contest the referee’s findings.

Vos hired Gableman in 2021 to lead the investigation after intense scrutiny from President Donald Trump, who was making false claims about widespread voter fraud in swing states, including Wisconsin. When Gableman released his initial report in 2022, he suggested state lawmakers “take a very hard look” at decertifying Wisconsin’s’ 2020 results, which was widely panned as legally impossible. Gableman later turned on Vos and supported efforts to recall him from his Assembly seat.

Despite the recommendations, it’s up to the Supreme Court to decide whether Gableman’s law license is suspended. In a Thursday court filing, Crawford said she would recuse herself from those proceedings at Gableman’s request. She said that’s because she served as a Dane County Circuit Court judge at the time Gableman accused Remington of bias. Crawford said she was in frequent contact with Remington and his staff and became aware of Gableman’s conduct.

“Because I may have been exposed to factual allegations beyond those Attorney Gableman has chosen not to contest, I may have ‘personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding,’” Crawford said. “The rule provides that recusal is mandatory under these circumstances.”

In another court filing, fellow liberal Justice Rebecca Dallet said she will not recuse herself from the disciplinary proceedings, despite a request from Gableman. She said Gableman cited her past criticisms of him when she was running for Supreme Court in 2017 and 2018. At the time, Gableman was still on the court and, for a moment, she said she thought she’d be running against him.

Dallet has called Gableman’s 2008 Supreme Court campaign “one of the most unethical in state history” and criticized his decision not to recuse from a 2015 case in which his campaign donors were being investigated for criminal campaign finance violations. She said those criticisms had nothing to do with the current ethics violations levied against him.

“Those statements did not express, and could not have expressed, any opinion on whether Gableman engaged in unethical conduct as an attorney in 2021 or 2022,” Dallet said.

Wisconsin Justice Susan Crawford recuses from Gableman disciplinary proceedings was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.