Dugan Case Going To Trial in December

Judge Hannah Dugan. Photo from Hannah Dugan for Judge.

The federal criminal case against Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan will go to trial on Dec. 15.

In August, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman denied Dugan’s motion to dismiss the case against her. During a hearing Wednesday at the Federal Courthouse downtown, Dugan’s defense team told Adelman they would not seek an appeal.

Dugan was indicted in May on charges of allegedly obstructing a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation and concealing an individual from arrest on April 18 at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

The federal government alleges Dugan sent immigration agents away from her courtroom after determining they were there to arrest an immigrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, appearing there on criminal charges. She then adjourned the matter and sent Flores-Ruiz out of the court room through a door used by jurors. Federal agents arrested him outside of the courthouse.

Her attorneys have argued since before her indictment that Dugan should not be facing charges at all because judicial immunity protects her from being criminally prosecuted for carrying out official acts of her judicial office. They have even argued that the new immunity granted to presidents by the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. United States draws on long established judicial immunity.

Federal Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph and Adelman were both not persuaded by arguments for immunity from criminal prosecution. When considering dismissal, the court must give more weight to the government’s allegations and taking the facts in the indictment at face value, Adelman explained in his order.

Since her indictment, Dugan’s attorneys have suggested they have evidence that will cut against the federal government’s allegations. Confident that the facts are on their side, her attorneys also suggested in June that Dugan was unlikely to appeal a decision on dismissal that didn’t go in their favor. Dugan wants to go to trial as quickly as possible.

“Typically, on the defense, we are seeking more time, but this case is different,” Dugan Attorney Jason Luczak said in June. “Usually, in federal courts, the Assistant U.S. Attorney, they have their case teed up before indictment. This case was brought very quickly, and so that kind of changes the dynamic.”

Jury selection for the trial will begin in early December. Both sides will have to work out a jury questionnaire. Previously, Dugan’s defense wanted to ask potential jurors about their political beliefs. Federal prosecutors didn’t like the idea. But the government wanted to put the government’s allegations against Dugan in the questionnaire. The defense didn’t like that idea.

The case was brought as President Donald Trump‘s administration began its crackdown on immigrants across the country, which included deporting persons to a foreign prison in El Salvador without due process. The case against Dugan became a flashpoint in the national political fever caused by the connected issues of immigration and the Trump administration’s conflict with the judiciary. The day Dugan was arrested, FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrest on social media and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi went on Fox News to proclaim Dugan’s arrest was “sending a very strong message” to judges that they were not above the law.