Judge Arrested

The battle between the Trump regime and the judiciary over illegal deportations is heating up.

For weeks now the Trump regime including the DOJ (Department of Justice) has been hostile to judges. Tony Evers, Wisconsin’s governor:

“Unfortunately, we have seen in recent months the president and the Trump administration repeatedly use dangerous rhetoric to attack and attempt to undermine our judiciary at every level, including flat-out disobeying the highest court in the land and threatening to impeach and remove judges who do not rule in their favor.”

The Trump regime has also threatened any local officials who tried to interfere with federal efforts to deport undocumented immigrants with investigation and prosecution.

Then yesterday a Milwaukee judge, Hannah Dugan, was arrested for allegedly attempting to protect a man from being arrested by ICE officials.

The purpose of the arrest is obviously to make an example to other judges and officials. One giveaway is the media attention. Kash Patel, the FBI director, posted a photo of Judge Dugan in handcuffs with the caption “No one is above the law”. One report said Patel left a party in Vegas to lead the arrest – guess he needed the photo op.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Fox News that when someone obstructs justice by “escorting a criminal defendant out a back door, it will not be tolerated. It doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to be prosecuted.” Where is the usual protest “we can’t discuss this case that’s before the courts”?

Republican politicians are calling for Dugan’s resignation while Democrats are accusing the Trump administration of going too far in attacking the judiciary system and destroying Democracy. Jamie Raskin said:

“This is a drastic escalation and dangerous new front in Trump’s authoritarian campaign of trying to bully, intimidate and impeach judges who won’t follow his dictates.”

I confess to having fantasies about Pam Bondi, Kari Lake and Kristi Noem. No, not that kind of fantasy (although they are superficially attractive women, their hearts are black as soot). My fantasy is taking Pam’s words that if you break the law “… it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to be prosecuted,” and applying it to them for contempt of court and other crimes. In my fantasy they would be arrested, locked up, and ideally held without bail until the Venezuelans were safely back in the U.S. But I’m afraid now that it would be seen as retaliation for Judge Dugan’s arrest.  Darn – Boasberg and Xinis waited too long.

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/us/politics/fbi-arrest-judge.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/26/wisconsin-judge-hannah-dugan-democrats-republicans