Indicted Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan pushed back Tuesday on obstruction charges over allegedly helping an illegal immigrant evade federal law enforcement, claiming the Justice Department is going after her for “doing her job.”
Dugan’s defense came in a court filing Tuesday, objecting to a recommendation filed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph that the case be allowed to proceed. Dugan claimed in her lengthy filing that Joseph’s findings would open the door for judges to be prosecuted for “official acts in the course of her ordinary judicial duties.”
“This is a federal criminal prosecution of a state judge for doing her job; not in the way that some federal agents preferred, true, but her job all the same. Yet the magistrate judge would allow it to proceed,” Dugan’s legal team said in the filing.
“Why? Under the magistrate judge’s proposed rule, every official act of state judges potentially is fair game for federal prosecution,” the filing said.
Joseph had offered her opinion in a filing to the court last week on whether Dugan’s case should be dismissed, rejecting the indicted judge’s argument that she has judicial immunity from the obstruction charges filed against her.
“A judge’s actions, even when done in her official capacity, does not bar criminal prosecution if the actions were done in violation of the criminal law,” Joseph wrote in her filing.
Joseph’s recommendation is not binding, and the final decision of whether to grant Dugan’s motion to dismiss the case lies with U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman.
In her Tuesday filing, Dugan argued that longstanding law and tradition support her claim that she has immunity from prosecution over official acts done when presiding over her courtroom. The indicted judge also warned of the chilling effect that allowing the criminal case to proceed could have on other judges.
“Yet the reasons for judicial immunity are stronger, if anything, in its original criminal application: the risk that a judge will be arrested, shackled, and jailed for carrying out the duties of his or her office, and the in terrorem effect that necessarily would have on that judge and others, is a much greater threat to the judicial task and role than civil cases,” Dugan wrote.
The Justice Department was given until later this month to respond to Joseph’s recommendation, after which Adelman will make a ruling on Dugan’s motion to dismiss. The trial was originally scheduled to begin next week, but has been delayed indefinitely pending the outcome of the motion to dismiss.
The Milwaukee County circuit judge’s criminal charges stem from her alleged efforts to help an illegal immigrant who appeared before her court, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, and his lawyer exit her courtroom via a back door after federal agents appeared at the courthouse to arrest him. Shortly after leaving the building through that back door, Flores-Ruiz was arrested; Dugan was arrested roughly a week later.
CASE AGAINST WISCONSIN JUDGE HANNAH DUGAN SHOULD PROCEED: FEDERAL JUDGE
Dugan’s arrest in April and federal indictment on two obstruction charges made national headlines. FBI Director Kash Patel vowed that “no one is above the law,” and Democrats expressed outrage over the prosecution. The indicted judge pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine if convicted.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan from her duties shortly after she was federally charged with obstruction. Earlier this week, Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature proposed a bill to withhold pay for suspended judges, as Dugan still receives her $175,000 salary during the suspension.