New Year, Same Problem for Gableman

In September we reported that State Supreme Court Candidate Michael Gableman had a terrible record at the State Court of Appeals. According to the Wisconsin Law Journal, Gableman was affirmed at the Court of Appeals only 67 percent of the time. When using the same criteria, even the average judge was affirmed 81 percent of the time. After 2007, Gableman still found himself in the bottom 15 percent. Already this early in 2008, Gableman continues on the wrong track at the Court of Appeals.

On January 8, the State Court of Appeals reversed yet another Gableman decision. This reversal involved a case originally filed in Burnett County in 2003. The case involved a woman that was injured in an automobile accident. The accident occurred in Wisconsin but the responsible insurance policy was executed in Minnesota. Judge Gableman applied the Minnesota no fault insurance law not the Wisconsin law. Gableman is getting reversed so often, I wonder if he thought that he’€™d have better luck with Minnesota law.

Although Michael Gableman is running for the high court, he has one of the lowest rates at the Court of Appeals. How many people get a promotion to a better job when they rate in the bottom 15 percent of their workforce? With this kind of pathetic record, it seems highly inappropriate that he should be criticizing majority decisions from our high court. His time might be better spent making sure that his own decisions are correct.

This is not a short term problem but one that spans Gableman’€™s entire tenure on the bench in Burnett County. Can we be confident in him taking on much more complicated matters of law at the highest level when he can’€™t get it right where he is now? We should require our high court to be comprised of the top legal minds possible. Michael Gableman has consistently ranked well below average. If the latest reversal is any indication, his below average record is only likely to get much worse.