Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan pleaded not guilty to obstruction charges after she was accused of helping an illegal immigrant evade arrest last month.
Dugan entered the plea at a hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Thursday morning, less than two days after she was indicted by a federal grand jury. The trial in the case was tentatively set for July 21 during the brief hearing.
She is accused of helping an illegal immigrant, who was appearing before her court, avoid detention by misdirecting federal immigration officials who arrived at her courtroom. Dugan was charged with obstructing a federal agency and concealing a person wanted for arrest. The pair of charges carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine.
Dugan filed a motion to dismiss the charges, using the 2024 Supreme Court decision in Trump v. United States to argue she was conducting official acts and is immune from prosecution for those actions. The landmark 2024 decision established “presumptive immunity” for all official acts of the president. She argued her actions in her courtroom last month were official judicial acts.
“The problems with this prosecution are legion, but most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts,” Dugan’s lawyers said in a Wednesday court filing. “Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset.”
MILWAUKEE JUDGE HANNAH DUGAN FILES MOTION TO DISMISS OBSTRUCTION CASE CITING TRUMP DECISION
Shortly after Dugan was arrested last month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court temporarily suspended her from her duties for the Milwaukee County Circuit.
FBI Director Kash Patel said Dugan’s “obstruction created increased danger to the public” upon her arrest by the agency in April.
