MADISON, Wis. – In case you missed it, Law Forward President and General Counsel Jeff Mandell outlined the case for disgraced former Justice Michael Gableman’s disbarment in a new op-ed in the Wisconsin State Journal.
As the Wisconsin Supreme Court continues to weigh disciplinary action against Gableman, Mandell argues that revoking Gableman’s law license is the appropriate sanction given the former justice’s repeated ethical and legal violations. Law Forward previously filed a grievance with the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) over Gableman’s conduct, which resulted in a disciplinary complaint against him last year.
Read Mandell’s op-ed in the State Journal here.
Wisconsin State Journal: Opinion: Michael Gableman should be disbarred — he’s earned it
[Jeffrey A. Mandell, 12/17/25]
- The Wisconsin Supreme Court is weighing appropriate discipline for former Justice Michael Gableman’s violation of ethical rules that bind all attorneys.
- The court must set aside any discomfort about judging a former colleague and revoke Gableman’s law license. Any decision short of the maximum sanction available will undermine the rule of law.
- This bold conclusion is unavoidable in light of Gableman’s blunderbuss tactics, intimidation attempts, abundant falsehoods and attempt to imprison elected officials on false premises.
- Gableman was, as even Vos later conceded, a poor choice for this role. Gableman admitted that he didn’t know how Wisconsin elections work and spent his early weeks with conspiracy theorists. He later admitted in court that this 60-day period resulted in “no substantive work.”
- Along the way, Gableman repeatedly misled the public and elected officials, abused the subpoena process, attempted to jail the mayors of Green Bay and Madison, lied to the court, demeaning a lawyer and a circuit court judge, destroyed public records and harassed nursing home residents.
- Last year, the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) filed a disciplinary complaint against Gableman, alleging 10 violations of the ethical rules that bind Wisconsin lawyers. OLR admitted its complaint excluded “additional acts of misconduct” that “demonstrate [Gableman’s] disregard for the rules of professional conduct.”
- Gableman initially denied any misconduct and refused to answer questions under oath. But after he was ordered to sit for a deposition and as a public evidentiary hearing drew closer, Gableman changed his tune. He conceded he had no defense by pleading no contest, and OLR canceled the hearing, settling for an agreed recommendation that Gableman’s law license be suspended for three years.
- The recommendation is now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. A three-year suspension is wholly insufficient for the breadth and the substance of Gableman’s ethical violations.
- Gableman’s misconduct was an attack on the fabric of our democracy. The Supreme Court has an obligation to impose the maximum available sanction — revoking Gableman’s license to practice law. Anything less would not only defy binding precedent but also send the message that our justice system will tolerate assaults against democracy.
