Milwaukee judge Hannah Dugan’s black robe isn’t going to save her from the judicial system.
The activist judge accused of helping an illegal immigrant evade arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will face trial on obstruction charges after a federal judge rejected her immunity claim, unless she files an appeal.
Dugan, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, made national headlines in April after she confronted immigration officers in a hallway and allegedly interfered with them making an arrest.
Dugan’s obstruction charges stem from an incident on April 18 at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Prosecutors allege that Dugan deliberately helped Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, a previously deported Mexican national with deportation orders, evade federal agents there to arrest him.
Dugan, 66, reportedly directed Flores-Ruiz—who was a defendant in her courtroom for beating up two people—through a side door usually reserved for jurors.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ruled on the motion this week, issuing a 27-page order denying Dugan’s motion to dismiss based on her claims that she is immune from prosecution.
“Ultimately, as the Supreme Court has stated, ‘the official seeking absolute immunity bears the burden of showing that such immunity is justified for the function in question,’” Adelman wrote, adding that Dugan has not done so here. “I cannot say as a matter of law that the defendant’s alleged conduct falls within even this more limited version of immunity.”
Federal prosecutors have accused Dugan of impeding federal law enforcement, and they said the concept of judicial immunity does not apply to judges who break criminal law.
Dugan’s high-powered legal team filed a motion to dismiss the case back in May, arguing she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts as a judge. Adelman’s decision could be appealed.
“While we’re disappointed by this decision, we look forward to the trial which will show Judge Dugan did nothing wrong and simply treated this case like any other in front of her courtroom,” Dugan’s attorneys said in a statement on Tuesday.
Adelman’s decision supports a July recommendation from U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph, who had recommended that the motion to dismiss not be granted.
In his order, Adelman cited the report Joseph several times. Joseph determined that questions in the case remained unresolved and should be decided at trial.
Adelman, a progressive Bill Clinton appointee and the trial judge, had the final say on the motion to dismiss.
Dugan’s attorneys have argued her federal prosecution is improper, violating the 10th Amendment and amounting to federal overreach. They allege federal prosecutors overstepped their authority by interfering with a state-level judge.
They also argued that the concept of judicial immunity protects official acts related to their judicial office, including a judge’s ability to run her own courtroom.
“There is no basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment describe conduct that could be considered ‘part of a judge’s job,’” Adelman wrote. “As the magistrate judge noted, the same is true in the bribery prosecutions, concededly valid, where the judges were prosecuted for performing official acts intertwined with bribery.”
Adelman set a scheduling hearing for Sept. 3—also the deadline for Dugan’s attorneys to appeal his order, the Wisconsin Examiner reported.
Federal prosecutors and Dugan’s defense team have said they would like a trial to begin before the end of the year. No trial date has been set, Fox News Digital reported.
Following Dugan’s arrest by the FBI, a grand jury in Wisconsin indicted Dugan on federal charges of obstructing or impeding a proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.
The federal indictment alleges Dugan “falsely” told the agents they needed a judicial warrant and directed them to go to the chief judge’s office.
According to prosecutors, Dugan became visibly upset when the federal agent showed up outside of her courtroom and said they had an administrative warrant to arrest Flores-Ruiz.
Dugan was captured on video speaking to immigration agents in the hallway. Prosecutors allege Dugan interfered with agents there to make an arrest by ordering them to the chief judge’s office.
The agents had an administrative warrant signed by an ICE official, rather than a judicial warrant granted by a federal judge. The administrative warrant did not give the agents the authority to enter private spaces in the courthouse, the Wisconsin Examiner reported.
Video footage that was obtained by WISN through an open records request shows Dugan in her black robe confronting the officers, leading them to the county’s chief judge’s office at the end of the hall and then re-entering her courtroom.
Dugan delayed Flores-Ruiz’s scheduled hearing on three counts of misdemeanor battery charges, even though witnesses were in the courtroom.
She allegedly escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney through a side door and advised his counsel that he could appear by Zoom for his next court date.
Moments later, Flores-Ruiz and his attorney can be seen exiting the courtroom into the same public hallway and walking toward the public elevators.
Federal agents arrested Flores-Ruiz outside of the courthouse after a short foot chase.
Last week, Milwaukee Police released body camera footage from an interview with Dugan following the courtroom controversary, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.
Dugan contacted the Milwaukee Police Department to report apparent threats against her and her family, reportedly between the April 18 incident in her courtroom and Dugan’s arrest on April 25 following a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe.
“It’s all lies, but he’s stirring the pot,” Dugan said in the body cam video. “What I’m worried about is just the wackos that will believe this story, which is not true. I’m not being investigated by the feds, the FBI was not there. You know, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was there.”
The judge also told police that she hadn’t given Flores-Ruiz special treatment.
“I don’t know if he’s an illegal immigrant, which is what they’re claiming,” Dugan told police. “I’m not supposed to know that when they come in front of me.”
