Overview

• U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman adopted Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph’s recommendation to deny dismissal, allowing the DOJ’s prosecution of Judge Hannah Dugan to continue.
• Dugan is charged with concealing a person from arrest under 18 U.S.C. §1071 and obstructing DHS removal proceedings under 18 U.S.C. §1505, carrying up to six years in prison and $350,000 in fines.
• Prosecutors say Dugan told ICE task force members they needed a judicial warrant, directed them elsewhere, and allowed Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer to exit through a nonpublic door before agents arrested him outside after a short chase.
• The court rejected arguments based on absolute judicial immunity and Tenth Amendment federalism, concluding that the Supreme Court’s Trump v. United States ruling does not confer criminal immunity on judges.
• Dugan has pleaded not guilty and remains suspended by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Flores-Ruiz later pleaded guilty to illegal reentry and agreed to deportation, and an appeal to the 7th Circuit remains possible.