On Tuesday, January 6, 2026, Wisconsin Public Radio reported that former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman is claiming his 14th Amendment due process rights have been violated due to the refusal of two liberal justices on the state Supreme Court to recuse themselves from his discipline case. This case will determine whether Gableman loses his law license.

Gableman’s attorney, Skylar Croy, argued in a letter dated December 29th that the court should consider whether it can provide due process, citing a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding judicial bias. Legal experts suggest this move, along with previous attempts to remove justices from the case, indicates a potential strategy to appeal the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision at the federal level.

However, Caleb Gerbitz, an attorney specializing in appellate law, believes a federal appeal would be difficult, noting the U.S. Supreme Court rarely intervenes in state lawyer regulation matters.

Gableman’s legal troubles stem from his investigation into the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin. He was hired by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in 2021 to investigate alleged wrongdoing after Donald Trump narrowly lost the state to Joe Biden. The investigation, which concluded in 2022 with Gableman’s firing, found no widespread fraud but incurred significant costs and several lawsuits.

These lawsuits, alleging violations of state record request laws, led to ethics complaints filed by the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR). The OLR investigated ten allegations of professional misconduct, including lying, disrespecting a judge, and demeaning comments toward a female attorney. In April 2025, the OLR recommended Gableman’s law license be suspended for three years, a recommendation seconded by a court-appointed referee last September, moving the case to the state Supreme Court.

Gableman’s legal team has sought the recusal of three liberal justices. Justices Janet Protasiewicz and Rebecca Dallet declined. Dallet’s recusal was requested due to comments she made about Gableman in 2018, which she argued were unrelated to the post-2020 investigation. Protasiewicz was asked to recuse herself because of campaign materials from her 2023 campaign that criticized the Gableman investigation. She declined, stating her comments addressed judicial independence and did not pre-judge any complaint against Gableman. Justice Susan Crawford recused herself, citing her prior service on the Dane County Circuit Court.

Gerbitz noted the U.S. Supreme Court has only addressed due process challenges to judicial recusal standards once, in Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co. That case involved a West Virginia Supreme Court justice who refused to recuse himself from a case involving a company that had spent $3 million on his election campaign. The U.S. Supreme Court found that the justice should have recused himself.

Bryna Godar, an attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative, pointed out that the Caperton ruling was narrow, stating that most judicial disqualification matters do not reach a constitutional level. She added that while state supreme courts typically have the final say in attorney discipline, federal constitutional issues like due process can potentially open the door to federal court involvement.

Wisconsin’s recusal standards, established by the court’s former conservative majority, do not consider campaign spending as a conflict of interest requiring recusal, leaving it to the justices’ discretion. Gerbitz emphasized that Gableman’s case differs from Massey, as it centers on justices’ speech during a campaign, an area the U.S. Supreme Court has not previously addressed, and involves significant First Amendment considerations.

The recommendation for a temporary loss of Gableman’s law license was part of an agreement where Gableman acknowledged he “cannot successfully defend” against the allegations. Croy stated this term is standard in OLR complaint cases.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether to accept the three-year recommendation or impose a different penalty.

 

 

Source: Wisconsin Public Radio