Grassroots North Shore announces its strongest possible support for Judge Hannah
Dugan. We have always known her to be an even-handed, fair jurist with deep respect
for the rule of law.
Judge Dugan has been arrested and charged with two felonies. As the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel describes it, she has retained the legal services of the “LeBron James
of lawyers” — former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement — and of lead attorney
Steven Biskupic, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, staunch
Republicans both. But she should never have had to acquire legal representation at all.
According to the allegations in the criminal complaint, Dugan is accused of escorting
Flores-Ruiz and his public defender out of her courtroom and into the hallway through a
side door, after learning that immigration authorities were in the hallway seeking his
arrest. Federal agents had agreed to arrest him in the hallway (and not in the
courtroom), yet they allowed him to leave.
“A DEA agent on the team saw Flores-Ruiz and his attorney enter the hallway near the
courtroom and walk briskly to the elevators. The agent managed to ride the elevator
down with them, and communicated with the other members of the removal team their
movements until they were able to confront him outside of the southern end of the
courthouse near the flagpoles” (Urban Milwaukee, April 25, 2025). (The emphasis has
been added.)
The man and his lawyer were never “concealed” anywhere. And Eduardo Flores-Ruiz
was duly arrested on the public sidewalk soon thereafter.
Hannah Dugan was acting in her capacity as a judge to maintain order in her courtroom
and prevent an incident at the public entrance to her courtroom. She did nothing illegal
and she certainly should never have been handcuffed and arrested in the courthouse
parking lot. According to Nancy Gertner, retired federal judge and senior lecturer at
Harvard Law School, this was not done to enforce the law. It was done to intimidate
Judge Dugan and all members of the independent judiciary (The Contrarian, April 28,
2025). All charges against her should be dismissed.
