Rogue Judges Undermine the Rule of Law

The arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan in late April is a clarifying moment in America’s legal, political, and cultural life. The facts, captured in the FBI’s charging document, beggar belief. DHS and ICE agents, with an administrative warrant, gathered at a Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 18 to arrest an individual who was scheduled to appear before the court for a criminal hearing. That individual, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, had been deported from the United States in 2013 but had since reappeared before being accused of domestic battery. Since the inauguration of President Trump in January 2025, DHS and ICE have prioritized apprehending illegal aliens who, like Flores-Ruiz, are defendants in criminal cases.  

But here’s where Judge Dugan enters the picture: After learning that DHS and ICE agents were awaiting the conclusion of her presiding over Flores-Ruiz’s hearing in the courthouse complex, Judge Dugan located and approached the agents in a public hallway and angrily berated them. Judge Dugan then told the agents to enter the chief judge’s office while she returned to the courtroom where Flores-Ruiz sat waiting with his attorney. While separated from agents, Judge Dugan then reportedly directed Flores-Ruiz to come with her. At this point, she surreptitiously showed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney the “jury door” that leads back into a non-public area of the courthouse complex, where Flores-Ruiz and his attorney could eventually re-enter the public area of the courthouse complex and exit. Luckily, one agent standing in the hallway outside the chief judge’s office caught sight of Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer walking briskly into an elevator. From there, a footrace ensued that took the agents beyond the courthouse grounds and into the streets of Milwaukee County. Twenty-two minutes after the chase began, the agents arrested Flores-Ruiz.

The government is charging Judge Dugan with two violations of federal criminal law, obstructing an arrest and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest. If convicted, Judge Dugan could be sentenced to between one and five years in federal prison. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has already suspended Judge Dugan indefinitely while these charges are pending, suggesting that even that ultra-liberal body understands Judge Dugan’s conduct has shaken public confidence in the courts. 

By themselves, the judge’s actions are the stuff of a bad television courtroom drama. Not even the most outrageous episodes of Law & Order feature such ridiculous or deplorable judicial behavior. What Judge Dugan’s alleged actions demonstrate is, sadly, how the psyche of someone at the highest levels of the legal profession can become consumed and then broken by those whom that person views do not possess legitimate authority. That broken psyche led to Judge Dugan potentially destroying her career in the span of a single morning.

Quite beyond the judge herself, the reason why l’affaire Dugan is a clarifying moment for the country is that it features the easiest conduct for all across the political spectrum to repudiate. This was not a judge indulging in poor behavior in her personal life, nor was it a judge ruling in an unpopular way. No: a sitting judge willfully impeded federal agents from doing their jobs and apprehending a deportee who had returned to the United States. To be clear, Judge Dugan knew nothing about the validity of the charges brought against Flores-Ruiz; federal agents did not reveal any evidence to her, nor should they have. Dugan’s actions suggest that she viewed the mere presence of federal agents seeking an illegal alien as grounds for resistance. When a judge cannot be trusted to uphold even the simplest compliance with the rule of law inside of her own courthouse, the republic has reached an obvious crisis point. 

And yet, Democrats and the legal elite could not help but go even further. After scanning the responses of Wisconsin Democrats as well as national Democratic leaders, one notices a common theme: Judge Dugan is unnamed, and it’s all Donald Trump’s fault. Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin whined: “The arrest of a sitting judge is a gravely serious and drastic move that threatens to breach the separation of powers. We are a democracy governed by laws that everyone must abide by, not kings.” Governor Tony Evers of Wisconsin, meanwhile, thundered: “The Trump administration’s dangerous rhetoric to attack and undermine our judiciary is unacceptable. I have deep respect for the rule of law and will continue to put my faith in our justice system as this plays out.” Notice that Evers screened from his reaction Judge Dugan’s conduct altogether. 

The legal elite rode eagerly to Judge Dugan’s defense. The New York City Bar issued a statement providing cover: “Judge Dugan’s actions appear to comply with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’s recently-issued guidance for interacting with ICE officials by obtaining information from them, not providing them with any information concerning the target, and referring ICE to the judge’s superiors at the courthouse.” The NYC Bar was more concerned about supposed norm departures in the Department of Justice’s treatment of Judge Dugan’s conduct. “Judge Dugan’s arrest coupled with AG Bondi’s statements appear to be a calculated show of force designed to intimidate state court judges and chill their exercise of independent judgment.”

A letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi signed by 150 former judges echoed these concerns, calling the DOJ’s actions “nothing but an effort to threaten and intimidate the state and federal judiciaries into submitting to the Administration, instead of interpreting the Constitution and laws of the United States. This cynical effort undermines the rule of law 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.” Unlike the statement by the NYC Bar, the letter completely ignored Judge Dugan’s conduct.

It would have been incredibly easy to condemn Judge Dugan’s alleged behavior. It would have been even easier to say nothing. The Democrats and the legal establishment have failed a simple test that any member of the opposition party faces: they are conducting themselves not as co-participants in a republican system where good-faith disagreements are part of the ebb and flow of our constitutional life but, sadly, as belligerents in a cold civil war. And the country is worse off for it. 

The only way out is through: the Trump administration will need to be unafraid to prosecute lawbreakers intending to disrupt its execution of the laws on immigration, regardless of if they hold judicial or political office. In a welcome sign of its intentions to do just that, the administration brought charges against a New Jersey congresswoman who allegedly assaulted a federal officer when she tried to enter a New Jersey ICE detention facility in May. “This is a defensive response by the administration to an assault on the law, on immigration law in particular,” notes Mark Krikorian.

Further, the administration’s measured and proportionate response to riots and burning vehicles in Los Angeles around the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building as of early June demonstrates that this administration will not allow its priorities to be thwarted by lawbreakers of all stripes. Even amid this chaos, Democrats plan to “double down” on their visits to ICE facilities, signaling, like Judge Dugan, their rejection of federal law. The actions of the Trump administration must be understood in light of that fact: as the sober position, enforcing the most basic expectations of lawful conduct in the face of a lawless opposition.

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