Former Justice Gableman suggested decertifying 2020 presidential election. His own attorney says it would be ‘pointless.’

A few weeks ago, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman urged a panel of state lawmakers to take a hard look at decertifying Wisconsin’s 2020 U.S. presidential election.

But on Thursday, Gableman’s own lawyer told those same legislators that the idea was both impossible and “pointless.”

Attorney James Bopp has represented Gableman in a couple cases that challenged the former justice’s authority as the special counsel for the state Assembly’s investigation of the 2020 election, which President Joe Biden won. Bopp is well-known nationally as a longtime lawyer for conservative causes.

He was invited to testify Thursday before the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections alongside Catherine Engelbrecht, “True The Vote” founder and president. Bopp has served for years as the group’s lawyer. Like Gableman, Bopp has repeatedly cast doubt on the way the 2020 election was run.

But when asked Thursday whether he believed decertification should be an option, Bopp rejected the idea.

“It serves zero legal purpose, and in my opinion, useful purpose, to be talking about doing some, like, decertification that is pointless,” Bopp said.

Bopp argued that “recertification” would have been an option in Wisconsin prior to Jan. 6, 2021, the day when Congress met to count electoral votes and a group of former President Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. That option, he argued, had since passed.

“It’s over,” Bopp said. “You can’t go back. There is no mechanism, no provision, no anything that would have any practical legal effect.”

Sitting behind Bopp as he addressed lawmakers was state Rep. Tim Ramthun, R-Campbellsport, the Republican lawmaker who has pushed a resolution calling for the decertification of the 2020 election. Ramthun has used the resolution to launch a campaign for governor.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, met last week with GOP activists who support Ramthun’s effort. Vos has rejected the idea, noting that it’s widely rejected among legal experts, including the Legislature’s own nonpartisan attorneys.