Attorney Michael Gableman Faces Disciplinary Complaint for Actions During Partisan 2020 Election Inquiry Investigated by American Oversight
Statement from American Oversight interim Executive Director Chioma Chukwu: “Michael Gableman’s misconduct shows how partisan agendas can undermine both the law and public trust; from destroying records to ignoring transparency laws, his actions reflect a blatant disregard for accountability and ethics standards. We are proud that our litigation uncovered this information for the people of […]
This week, the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) filed a disciplinary complaint against Michael Gableman, the former state Supreme Court justice who led the Wisconsin Assembly’s partisan and baseless inquiry into the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The complaint details 10 counts related to his conduct while overseeing the election review. Four of the counts relate to Gableman’s failures to comply with state public records laws, as revealed through American Oversight’s litigation for records from the inquiry, as well as Gableman’s unprofessional conduct while testifying in a related hearing.
Wisconsin Assembly Leader Robin Vos hired Gableman to head a newly created Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to conduct the review in the summer of 2021, following pressure from Donald Trump and supporters who were continuing to make baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen. American Oversight began investigating almost immediately, ultimately filing four separate lawsuits to ensure that key public records from the inquiry were preserved and released to the public.
The disciplinary complaint filed by the OLR outlines Gableman’ s “Lack of Competence in Wisconsin’s Open Records and Record Retention Laws” and references findings from American Oversight’s litigation, such as OSC’s frequent destruction of public documents — including those deemed not “helpful” to the review — and its dismal record-keeping practices. Among records destroyed were notes Gableman took during the trips to the site of the Arizona Senate’s own partisan election “audit” and to a “symposium” held by prominent election denier Mike Lindell.
The revelations of the document destruction came in an April 2022 letter in which an attorney representing OSC stated that the office “routinely deletes documents and text messages that are not of use to the investigation,” defining such documents as including those “that the OSC is not intending to further investigate, and is not intending to rely upon for its recommendations or reports.” Separately, during Gableman’s testimony during a June 2022 hearing in one of American Oversight’s lawsuits, Gableman said, “Did I delete documents? Yes, I did.”
During a July 2022 hearing in a separate lawsuit, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn said that “the people in charge” of the review were either “so woefully ignorant of the requirements of the [Wisconsin] Open Records Law” or they were openly flouting the statute. “I have a suspicion that it might be a combination of both,” she said.
This February, American Oversight and OSC settled a lawsuit regarding OSC’s failure to retain public records from the review and to release them in response to requests as required by law. As part of the settlement, OSC admitted that its destruction of records violated state retention law.
Three of the other counts relate to Gableman’s conduct during another hearing in June 2022. Earlier that week, Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington had ruled that Gableman must appear in court in response to American Oversight’s subpoena.
The complaint refers to Gableman’s conduct as “disruptive behavior,” with transcripts that detail how Gableman publicly questioned the judge’s integrity and made “false, derogatory and demeaning public statements” about American Oversight’s counsel.
Upon taking the stand, Gableman refused to answer any questions, accusing Judge Remington of bias in a speech that at times was openly disdainful of the proceedings. After probing by the judge, Gableman said he was invoking his “right to silence guaranteed to me under the United States Constitution” and said that Remington had “abandoned his role as a neutral magistrate and is acting as an advocate.”
“I will not answer any more questions,” Gableman said. “I see you have a jail officer here. You want to put me in jail, Judge Remington? … I’m not going to be railroaded.”
During a brief recess in the hearing, Gableman made comments to another attorney that referred to Judge Remington as American Oversight’s counsel “with a beard.” Over a microphone, he did a mocking impersonation of Remington that the complaint said “not only disrespected Judge Remington and questioned his integrity” but “also demeaned and belittled opposing counsel by making allegations of improper collusion with the court and by portraying her as an incompetent lawyer whose only role was to aid Judge Remington in his bias.”
American Oversight’s investigation into the partisan review showed that after more than a year, Gableman’s review had found — as Judge Bailey-Rihn put it — “absolutely no evidence” of voter fraud during the 2020 election. American Oversight’s investigation also revealed the influence and involvement of partisan and anti-democratic individuals and groups, several of which had actively promoted conspiracy theories about election fraud or sought to overturn the state’s 2020 results. Learn more about American Oversight’s investigation and litigation here.