MADISON, Wis. (CN) - Wisconsin state regulators on Friday recommended a three-year suspension for a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice over his conduct while serving as special counsel to the Wisconsin Assembly.

Michael Gableman, a staunch 2020 election denier and vocal ally of President Donald Trump, was hired in 2021 by Republican Speaker Robin Vos as special counsel to the Wisconsin Assembly to head up one of four investigations into the results of the 2020 election.

Gableman served in that position for one year. Vos fired him in late 2022 after he endorsed Vos's challenger in that year's primary election. During his tenure, the Assembly paid Gableman $117,294 and spent $2.3 million in expenses for rent, travel, consultants, outside lawyers and court fines and penalties, according to the state's Office of Lawyer Regulation.

The office filed a formal complaint against Gableman in 2024, claiming that he violated the Wisconsin Supreme Court's professional conduct rules for attorneys 10 times while he served as special counsel to the Assembly. The charges range from lying under oath to threatening to jail the mayors of Madison and Green Bay without cause.  

On Friday, Office of Lawyer Regulation referee James Winiarski filed a report with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, recommending the court suspend Gableman's law license for three years. He argued that "a high level of discipline is needed to protect the public, the courts and the legal system."

Although the high court typically adopts the referee's recommendation in attorney discipline cases, Gableman's highly public and unique case makes it unclear how the court will act.

Justices Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley - the longest currently seated members of the conservative minority - both served on the court alongside Gableman, who was elected to to the court in 2008 and served his full term.

Gableman is charged with 10 Supreme Court Rules violations related to his subpoenas of the mayors of Madison and Green Bay, his public testimony to the Assembly about those subpoenas, his behavior towards opposing counsel and sitting judges, his mishandling of public records while serving as special counsel and his manipulation of the Assembly to further his personal goals to decertify the 2020 election results.

The conservative attorney and former justice lied under oath to the Assembly, made derogatory public statements about judges and opposing counsel, violated open records laws, violated client confidentiality by making public statements about Vos to pressure him into continuing the special counsel investigation and publicly called for Vos' recall.

Entering a plea of no contest, Gableman has not disputed the facts in the report. Winiarski called the violations "most serious" and pointed to Gableman's repeated and deliberate falsifications and disinformation to support his disciplinary recommendation.

Vos tasked Gableman in 2021 with conducting a fact-finding investigation on legislative changes that could be enacted for the administration of future elections. The investigation was to be conducted over four months culminating in a final report, and he would be paid $11,000 per month.

However, almost immediately after signing, an amendment allocated to Gableman a budget of over $600,000 and an additional month of time to complete the report, which still wasn't completed five months later.

Gableman has since testified that he did not take that objective seriously and intended from the beginning to find a way to decertify the election results in Wisconsin, according to the Office of Lawyer Regulation.

Former President Joe Biden's 2020 victory in Wisconsin held up against two recounts, multiple lawsuits, a nonpartisan audit and a review by a Republican law firm. Officials agree there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the state.

Despite this, Gableman took it upon himself to include a "decertification appendix" in his final report.

His primary evidence supporting the debunked stolen election conspiracy is a donation by the Center for Tech and Civil Life, run by Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.

The organization gave $8.8 million for election administration to Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha and Green Bay - Wisconsin's largest and most liberal regions. Although the social media magnate gave money for the same purpose across the nation, Gableman asserted that the money was actually used to bribe Black voters in liberal cities.

Gableman also claimed that the Wisconsin Elections Commission intentionally and illegally failed to send voting deputies to nursing homes to help residents in those facilities vote in the 2020 general election. Officials have said that Covid-19 restrictions barred visitors from those facilities.

Gableman's report recommended dismantling the Wisconsin Elections Commission and urged legislators to decertify Wisconsin's electors for the 2020 election. The commission continues to manage the state's elections despite his many derogatory claims.

Biden won Wisconsin by more than 20,000 votes in 2020, while Former Vice President Kamala Harris lost Wisconsin by nearly 30,000 votes in 2024. There has been no widespread fraud confirmed in either election.

Following the submission of the referee report, the parties have 20 days to appeal before the Wisconsin Supreme Court decides to either accept or deny the three-year suspension.  

Peyton Engel, the attorney representing Gableman, said that he was pleased that the referee's recommendation aligns with the parties' prior stipulation and that he is not likely to appeal any parts of the report. He said that state Supreme Court justices can and probably should recuse themselves from the final order in Gableman's case.

Source: Courthouse News Service