MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – APRIL 25: Demonstrators protest in front of the federal courthouse where … More Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan appeared in front of a judge after being arrested by the FBI as she arrived for work this morning at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 25, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Judge Dugan has been charged in federal court for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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When federal agents marched into a Milwaukee courtroom and later arrested Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan, they crossed not only a physical threshold but also a constitutional Rubicon heading straight for a constitutional crisis. In doing so, they sent a chilling message: that the executive branch of government now claims the power to punish judges who stand in the way of its political priorities.
Judge Dugan’s alleged crime? Refusing to allow ICE agents to seize a man—Eduardo Flores-Ruiz—who appeared before her in a state court proceeding. According to federal prosecutors, Dugan became “visibly angry” when immigration agents interrupted her courtroom to make an arrest, and she allegedly allowed the individual to exit through a jury door instead. For this, she has been charged with obstruction and concealing a person from arrest.
However, the real obstruction lies in the Trump administration’s assault on constitutional democracy.
Access to Justice Is Not Optional
At the heart of the American legal system lies a basic guarantee: anyone within U.S. territory—citizen or non-citizen, guilty or innocent—must have the right to enter a courthouse and seek the protection of the law without fear of immediate arrest. This includes the sacred right to petition for habeas corpus, the ancient writ that allows a person to challenge unlawful detention.
If the executive branch can lie in wait at the courthouse doors—or worse, storm into courtrooms themselves—it effectively nullifies that guarantee. Immigrants, witnesses, victims of crime, and defendants alike will think twice before stepping into court. Justice will be reserved only for those privileged enough not to fear arrest.
The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently recognized that unrestricted access to courts is essential for constitutional governance. This right is also protected by the Sixth Amendment. Eroding this access jeopardizes all other rights.
The Trump administration’s decision to target Judge Dugan transforms the courthouse—a traditional sanctuary of rights—into an arm of law enforcement. It turns judges from guardians of liberty into potential co-conspirators in the executive’s punitive machinery. It is not just the undocumented who are endangered; it is every American who may one day need a court’s protection.
The Bedrock Principle: Presumption of Innocence
There is another vital fundamental principle endangered by this episode: the presumption of innocence in criminal proceedings.
In our legal system, every person who enters a courtroom accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty. That presumption is no mere formality; it is a bedrock guarantee. It ensures that a person may not be punished, imprisoned, or branded as guilty unless and until the state meets a heavy burden: proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt through evidence and a fair hearing.
This standard serves as a crucial protection against arbitrary or political detention.
In the case at hand, Flores-Ruiz was appearing in court as part of a criminal process governed by this principle. He was entitled to be treated as innocent until the judicial process determined otherwise. For ICE agents to storm the courtroom and attempt to preempt that process by arresting him for civil immigration violations subverts this foundational safeguard. It circumvents the very fact-finding role that courts are constitutionally mandated to perform.
By interfering with the presumption of innocence and the orderly administration of justice, the executive branch not only violated Flores-Ruiz’s rights but also attacked the constitutional role of the courts themselves.
An Open Assault on the Separation of Powers
Equally alarming is how Judge Dugan’s arrest undermined the doctrine of separation of powers.
The executive enforces the law while the judiciary interprets and applies it. This division is not a mere technicality—it is the fundamental structure that prevents authoritarianism.
Judge Dugan was overseeing a state criminal proceeding, not an immigration hearing. Immigration enforcement is a federal, civil process. By attempting to override her authority in the middle of a criminal hearing—and then arresting her for resisting that interference—the Trump administration obliterates the necessary boundary between executive power and judicial independence.
If judges cannot control their courtrooms without fearing personal arrest, then the judiciary ceases to be an independent branch. It becomes a mere administrative unit of the executive. In such a system, justice is no longer blind; it becomes obedient.
Hypocrisy on “No One Is Above the Law”
Attorney General Pam Boni says no one is above the law. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi justified the arrest of Judge Dugan, by proclaiming on social media that “no one is above the law.”
It is a noble sentiment—however it is one that rings hollow coming from this administration.
If no one indeed is above the law, why did the Trump administration work so diligently to pardon, excuse, or minimize the actions of the January 6th insurrectionists—individuals who violently sought to overthrow constitutional governance? Why are these insurrectionists celebrated rather than held consistently accountable?
William Sarsfirled, convicted for participation in the January 6th, 2021 U.S. insurrection, waits … More outside the jail in Washington D.C. following his pardoning by President Donald Trump, Tuesday, January 21, 2025. (Photo by Dominic Gwinn / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
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And why, above all, does this principle not seem to apply to former President Trump himself, who has now been convicted of 34 criminal offenses yet continues to act as if legal accountability does not apply to him? He campaigns, commands the national agenda, and demands loyalty to his personal cause, even as he stands convicted by juries of his peers.
The selective invocation of “no one is above the law” as a cudgel against a state judge—while simultaneously excusing insurrectionists and a convicted former president—reveals the profound political cynicism underlying this prosecution.
A Dangerous Precedent with No Natural Stopping Point
This is not a story limited to immigration law, or to Wisconsin. It is a serious warning about the trajectory of American governance.
Today, it is an undocumented immigrant in a local court. Tomorrow it could be a protester, a political dissenter, or a journalist. If the executive is allowed to criminalize judicial management decisions under the guise of obstruction, the entire system of checks and balances will collapse.
Already, Trump’s administration has waged an open war on the judiciary. Judges who block executive policies have been subjected to public vilification. Now, with Judge Dugan’s arrest, the campaign of intimidation has transitioned from words to handcuffs.
This tactic—arresting judges for their courtroom decisions—has disturbing echoes in other countries where judicial independence has been undermined: in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, in Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey, and in other places where democracy has given way to executive supremacy.
Conclusion
The arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan must not be viewed in isolation. It represents a systemic assault on the constitutional order: on access to justice, on judicial independence, and on the principle that the law must apply equally to all.
Whether or not Judge Dugan technically violated a federal statute will be determined in court. However, the broader constitutional injury—the executive branch storming the very gates of justice—has already occurred.
The American people must recognize what is at stake. A country where judges must fear the executive is not a free country; it is an authoritarian state in its infancy. If the United States is to remain a nation of laws, not of rulers, this assault must be repelled firmly, swiftly, and without compromise. Otherwise, we will be mired in a constitutional crisis with no easy way out.
