Michael Gableman agrees to 3-year license suspension following 2020 election probe

WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- A former state Supreme Court justice who led a taxpayer review of the 2020 election could lose his law license.

On Monday, April 7, Michael Gableman reached a tentative deal with the Office of Lawyer Regulation to suspend his law license for three years. It comes after a 75-page complaint alleged Gableman violated multiple rules of professional conduct during his election investigation.

Attorney Stacie H. Rosenzweig, with Halling & Cayo S.C., defends lawyers in grievance proceedings and practices election law. She said there are many reasons Gableman would have stipulated that he can’t successfully defend himself against the allegations.

“Either they legitimately can’t defend against the allegations and spending time, money, uncertainty, and so forth, to go through a hearing, isn’t in their best interest,” Rosenzweig said. “Sometimes, they just want to be done.”

The former justice was fired by Republican lawmakers after his review of the 2020 election produced no evidence of fraud and cost taxpayers more than $2 million.

The deal Gableman reached calling for his suspension now goes to a referee overseeing his case before it would go to the state Supreme Court.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos previously called for Gableman to be disbarred. Vos and Gableman’s attorney have not yet responded to CBS 58’s requests for comment on the stipulation.