WI Judge Will Stand Trial On Charges Of Helping Illegal Flee

Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan claims she’s immune from being prosecuted over federal charges she helped a violent illegal immigrant elude Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. But Dugan learned on Tuesday that no man — or woman — is higher than the law. 

Apparently, Dugan’s alleged conduct was so egregious that even one of the more notoriously leftist federal judges in the country couldn’t look the other way. 

U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman agreed with a U.S. Magistrate’s previous recommendation that Dugan’s motion to dismiss the federal government’s case be denied. Adelman scheduled an in-court hearing for next Wednesday in his Milwaukee courtroom to set up a timeline for trial. 

‘Better of the Argument’ 

In his 27-page ruling filled with court precedents, Adelman noted two oft-cited cases that neutralizes Dugan’s claims that judges are free to do whatever they please in their “official acts” — up to committing crimes. 

“[N]o man in this country is so high that he is above the law. . . . A judge no less than any other man is subject to the processes of the criminal law,” the ruling, citing United States v. Hastings, states.  

While judges do enjoy wide-ranging immunity from civil actions stemming from doing their jobs, criminal activity in the commission of their duties is an entirely different matter. 

“Even judges, cloaked with absolute civil immunity for centuries, could be punished criminally for willful deprivations of constitutional rights …” Adelman wrote, quoting from a 1976 Supreme Court ruling. 

Dugan’s dream team of expensive lawyers must be familiar with the rulings. Adelman chided them for arguing that the Milwaukee County judge “enjoys absolute judicial immunity for the official acts alleged in the indictment.” Dugan’s attorneys also argue that the federal prosecution “violates the Tenth Amendment and the Constitution’s vertical separation of powers by intruding on the authority of state judges to manage their own courtrooms and proceedings.” Adelman informed the defendant that such arguments don’t hold water, certainly not in the court’s obligation to view the facts “in the light most favorable to the government” in motions to dismiss. 

“A review of the relevant history reveals the government has the better of the argument,” the ruling states. 

‘No One is Above the Law’

Dugan faces federal charges of felony obstruction and misdemeanor concealing an individual to prevent arrest. She is accused of aiding previously deported illegal immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz’s brief escape from federal law enforcement officials in April while he was appearing in front of the county judge on battery charges. Dugan faces up to six years in prison and a $350,000 fine if found guilty. 

FBI agents arrested Dugan on April 25 at the courthouse, a week after the judge, according to the criminal complaint, misdirected federal agents, delaying them from apprehending Flores-Ruiz. The illegal immigrant was set to appear before Dugan for a pretrial conference. Flores-Ruiz is expected to be deported again after he serves a federal prison term for violating immigration law, Milwaukee’s ABC affiliate, WISN, reported. 

On the day of Dugan’s arrest, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X a photo of the judge being taken into custody with the caption declaring, “No one is above the law.” That slogan was a favorite of the left as they relentlessly and unsuccessfully attempted to imprison and politically knock out President Donald Trump.  

“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.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court placed Dugan on administrative leave just days after she was charged. The judge continues to receive full pay and benefits, raking in nearly $50,000 over the run of her suspension from the bench, The Federalist reported Tuesday. 

‘Crossed the Line’

Adelman’s ruling may come as a surprise to those who have followed the 85-year-old federal judge’s long legal and political career. Adelman, a President Bill Clinton nominee, just happened to draw Dugan’s case. As The Federalist has reported, the judge penned a 2020 piece attacking the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, titled, “The Roberts Court’s Assault on Democracy.” The Judicial Council of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals publicly admonished him for it. 

In his piece, Adelman played politics in accusing Trump of failing “to enact policies beneficial to the general public,” of behaving like an “autocrat,” and of failing “to buck the wealthy individuals and corporations who control his party,” Heritage Foundation constitutional law experts Zack Smith and GianCarlo Canaparo wrote in July 2020. 

“If all of that weren’t enough, Adelman, a judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin since 1997, targeted Republicans for special criticism and went so far as to liken them to pro-slavery ‘fire-eaters’ of the pre-Civil War South,” the Heritage column noted. 

But even the leftist federal judge must acknowledge that federal prosecutors, at least thus far, have “the better of the argument.” 

“When even a far-left judge like Lynn Adelman won’t toss your case, you know you have seriously crossed the line,” Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., said Tuesday in a statement to The Federalist. “Judge Hannah Dugan should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and permanently barred from the bench,” 

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.