Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has asked a Dane County Circuit Court judge to prohibit former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman from enforcing subpoenas he filed with the state elections commission as part of an ongoing investigation into how the 2020 election was conducted.
Kaul’s request for a restraining order, which was filed Thursday, alleges Gableman’s special counsel has issued “numerous subpoenas to state and local election officials in furtherance of an unlawful investigation focused on debunked theories about the November 2020 Election.” The motion for a restraining order relates to subpoenas issued to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which Kaul represents, and its administrator, Meagan Wolfe.
Kaul’s motion comes about one week after the state Department of Justice and Gableman, who was hired by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, to lead the probe, reached a mutual agreement to reduce the special counsel’s overall request for election-related documents. Gableman also agreed to hold off on his initial demand to have Wolfe and the mayors and city clerks in the state’s largest cities testify in private meetings last Friday, though he did reserve the right to request interviews in the future.
In Thursday’s motion, Kaul said Gableman’s subpoenas “suffer multiple legal defects and should be invalidated on those legal bases.” He added that subpoenas requesting depositions have no basis in statute and exceed the scope of legislative authority.
Kaul said Wolfe and Elections Commission officials stand ready to provide testimony and additional documents for the investigation, but only to the state Legislature or one of its committees.
“But the current Subpoenas, infected with the numerous legal flaws discussed herein, cannot be lawfully enforced and must therefore be immediately enjoined,” he wrote in the motion.
Kaul earlier this month questioned the legality of the subpoenas, while calling on Vos to call off the “fake investigation” that he said has been “irrevocably tainted by bias.” Vos responded earlier this month that Gableman’s investigation would continue.
Gableman’s special counsel and Vos’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
During an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Morning Show,“ on Tuesday, Vos said the investigation, which had originally been planned to be complete by the end of October, will now be finished before the end of the year. Vos did not say if the investigation could cost more than the $676,000 in taxpayer dollars allocated to the effort in June.
In the interview, Vos said the goal of the investigation is to “shine a light on all of the problems that occurred in 2020 so we don’t see them happening again in 2022 and going forward.”
“If there’s nothing to hide, why are there all these Democrats literally now working with liberal lawyers to try to ensure that nothing becomes public and that nothing sees the light of day? They obviously have something to hide,” Vos said.
The one-party investigation is focused on some of the procedures voters and clerks relied on in casting and processing ballots. Although some have raised the prospect of fraud, no claims of large-scale cheating have been substantiated, and the investigation, so far at least, is not seeking to review any ballots.
A recount and court decisions have affirmed that President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. Four voters out of roughly 3 million who cast ballots have been charged with fraud.
The nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau is also reviewing the 2020 election. That review was also ordered by Republicans and is expected to be completed this fall.
GALLERY: Local elections bring in voters
West Baraboo resident Kathy Gray signs her name in the poll book as her husband, Frank, waits in line Tuesday morning at Village Hall.
West Baraboo resident Ron Rupert signs in to vote Tuesday morning at village hall.
West Baraboo resident Melinda Zufall feeds her ballot into a voting machine Tuesday morning at village hall.
West Baraboo residents Ron Rupert and Melinda Zufall fill out their ballots Tuesday morning at village hall.
Mikka Roessler fills out a ballot Tuesday at the Baraboo Civic Center.
Baraboo voter Ryan Ramnarace signs an electronic poll book Tuesday at the Civic Center before collecting a ballot.
Bill Armstrong, Baraboo, inserts a completed ballot into the counter Tuesday at Baraboo Civic Center.
Election Chief Inspector Pam Jones processes absentee ballots Tuesday at Portage City Hall.
Election workers routinely wipe down and sanitize the ballot machine and the individual voting station throughout the day Tuesday during the spring primary election at Portage City Hall.
Portage City Clerk Marie Moe talks about absentee ballot processing to election workers Tuesday at City Hall.
Erica Helwig receives ballot instructions Oct. 21 at the Portage Municipal Building. Helwig, 21, cast her first vote in a presidential election through in-person early voting because she said it’s a safer option than standing in line on Election Day during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Erica Helwig fills out her ballot Oct. 21 at the Portage Municipal Building. Helwig, 21, decided to cast her first vote in a presidential election through in-person early voting because she said it’s a safer option than standing in line on Election Day, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Poll worker Matigan O’Leary sits outside Portage City Hall to screen voters for COVID-19 symptoms prior to entering the building to vote in the Aug. 11 primary election. Plexiglass partitions were placed between voters and poll workers and voters were given hand sanitizer upon entering the polling place.
Poll worker Sue Barton feeds an absentee ballot into a machine Aug. 11 at Portage City Hall during Wisconsin’s partisan primary election.
Springvale Clerk Becky Gutzman signs in before dropping off town ballots April 13 at the Columbia County Administrative Building.
Patti Hauser-Kassner, of Lewiston, Randolph Clerk Maxine DeYoung, Lewiston Clerk Kurt Kassner and Hampden Clerk Diane Guenther wait with ballot bags while spaced apart April 13 in the lobby of the Columbia County Administrative Building.
Poll worker Matt Foster wipes down polling stations during the spring election April 7 in the basement of Portage city hall.
Becky Ness, deputy clerk for the city of Portage, explains the absentee ballot process to a voter days before the April election from behind a sheet of plastic at the Portage Municipal Building. Organizers also put curtains of plastic in front of poll workers during the election to prevent possible transmission of COVID-19.
Baraboo City Clerk Brenda Zeman, left, and poll worker Ann Adkins count absentee ballots Tuesday afternoon at the civic center in Baraboo.
Gerald Cote signs a poll book Tuesday at the Baraboo Civic Center.
Election Day 2020 in West Baraboo
Election Day 2020 in Baraboo
Election Day 2020 in West Baraboo
West Baraboo residents stand in land before preparing and casting their ballots in the Nov. 3 election.
Election Day 2020 in Baraboo
Kaul had questioned the legality of the subpoenas, calling on Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to call off the “fake investigation” that he said has been “irrevocably tainted by bias.”
