The other story the Sunday “talking heads” programs were talking about was the arrest of Milwaukee judge Hannah Dugan by the Department of Justice. Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward report at Reuters:
WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) – U.S. officials arrested a Wisconsin judge on Friday and charged her with helping a man in her court briefly evade immigration authorities in an escalating dispute between President Donald Trump’s administration and local officials over immigration enforcement.
In a criminal complaint, the U.S. Justice Department said Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge, hindered the immigration agents who showed up to arrest the man without a judicial warrant outside her courtroom on April 18, and that she tried to help him evade arrest by allowing him to exit through a jury door. Agents arrested the man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, outside the courthouse after he left with his lawyer.
Although he thought the DoJ’s arrest of Judge Dugan excessively harsh, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had a succinct reaction to the arrest: “What was she thinking?”
Not cooperating with federal officials is one thing but actively impeding them is something else again. IMO it was not a smart move and the reaction of the DoJ undoubtedly was, to quote Voltaire, to encourage the others.
Dave Schuler: Not cooperating with federal officials is one thing but actively impeding them is something else again.
True. From reports, she may have thought an administrative warrant was insufficient. Regardless, it is nearly impossible to run a court when people are afraid to show up, including not just defendants and litigants, but witnesses and victims.
She was thinking she was an advocate for illegal immigrants. The fact that it was an administrative warrant is only relevant if she was asked to effectuate it. She was never approached or asked to do anything. Plain clothes officers waited in the hallway outside. The Chief Judge indicated that arrests in the public hallways were OK, but that they should wait until the proceedings are finished, which they were doing anyway.
The Judge/Advocate here adjourned the pre-trial hearing without notifying the Assistant DA waiting for the case to be called, who didn’t learn of this until the call was over. That is probably an unethical ex parte order given the context, but that will be a matter for the state’s judicial ethics body.
In this case, I prefer the Chinese take on “encourage the others” — “kill the chicken to scare the monkey”.