Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan filed a motion to dismiss the federal charges against her Wednesday saying she is immune from prosecution and cited federal overreach by prosecutors.
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted Dugan for allegedly helping an illegal immigrant escape U.S. authorities. Dugan is accused of aiding Eduardo Flores-Ruiz by leading him to a separate exit in the courtroom that was away from immigration officers. In April, Dugan was arrested and charged with obstructing a federal agency and concealing a person wanted for arrest. Flores-Ruiz had been charged with multiple violent crimes including strangulation and suffocation, battery, and domestic abuse.
Dugan's motion cites the recent Supreme Court decision Trump v. United States saying she is immune from prosecution because she was operating in her official duties as a judge. Dugan's attorneys said the charges should be dismissed because "this is no ordinary criminal case" and Dugan is "no ordinary criminal defendant."
"Judges are entitled to absolute immunity for their judicial acts, without regard to the motive with which those acts are allegedly performed," the motion said. "The government's prosecution here reaches directly into a state courthouse, disrupting active proceedings, and interferes with the official duties of an elected judge."
"Since at least the early 17th century in England, and carried on through common law in the United States, judges of record have been entitled to absolute immunity for official acts with a few exceptions not applicable here," the motion continued, adding that the Trump administration's prosecution of Dugan has been "virtually unprecedented and entirely unconstitutional."
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the case is an example that no one is above the law: "It doesn't matter what line of work you are in, if you break the law, we will follow the facts and we will prosecute you."
In response, over 150 former state and federal judges signed a letter to Bondi calling the arrest of Dugan a "cynical" attempt to intimidate judges. "This cynical effort undermines the rule of law," that letter said, "and destroys the trust the American people have in the nation's judges to administer justice in the courtrooms and in the halls of justice across the land."
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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