What do you call a state judge convicted of felony immigration obstruction charges?
A good start.
In December, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was found guilty in the first-of-its-kind jury trial for intentionally helping a criminal illegal alien evade federal ICE agents.
In a now-released audio recording from April 18, 2025, Judge Dugan told her court reporter she would guide the illegal alien and his attorney through a private hallway, saying, “I’ll take the heat.”
Interestingly, Dugan’s defiant obstruction came on the exact same day that Massachusetts District Court Judge Brian Murphy imposed a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s attempts to deport illegal aliens to “third countries.”
Judge Dugan was arrested a week later, but Judge Murphy would famously continue the fight against Trump’s immigration enforcement, going so far as to declare that his injunction barring deportations “remains in full force and effect, notwithstanding” the Supreme Court’s order to the contrary.
One need not look far to see where these lower court judges are getting their lawless chutzpah.
Just days before both judges thumbed their noses at the Trump administration, James Boasberg, Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, announced he may pursue contempt proceedings against the administration for not returning back to America planes – already in the air – full of hundreds of ruthless, violent drug and human trafficking aliens with alleged ties to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.
Judge Boasberg now faces drafted articles of impeachment, and he’s not even the only one sitting on the same court to do so.
Judge Amir Ali, also of the D.C. District Court, faces articles of impeachment for trying to force taxpayers to continue funding USAID projects over a Trump executive order pausing said payments.
Americans voted overwhelmingly to rein in government spending, particularly unchecked foreign aid, but Judge Ali tried to overrule the will of the people with a March 2025 order to keep payments coming.
Thankfully, the Supreme Court upheld the executive order pausing foreign aid payments.
But wait, there’s more.
Ali is not the only judge trying to force taxpayers to keep funding programs against their will.
In December, Judge Indira Talwani, U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts, in trying to overrule not just Trump and the Executive Branch, but also the Legislative Branch, again issued an order declaring Congress did not have jurisdiction to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood.
So much for the power of the purse.
Notably, three Biden-appointed judges on the First Circuit Court of Appeals originally “bench slapped” Talwani’s orders in September 2025, forcing continued payments to Planned Parenthood. The First Circuit again halted Talwani’s latest order last week.
Now, the legacy media and the establishment Left are upset that the Supreme Court is siding with the Trump administration in so many cases, so early into his second term.
But the Supreme Court wouldn’t have to weigh in on behalf of the Trump administration if these rogue judges weren’t so hell-bent on ignoring their role in enforcing the rule of law and instead plowing through with their own political preferences.
The American people are tired. They’re tired of the corruption right in front of their eyes. They’re tired of feeling like there’s a two-tiered system of justice. They’re tired of seeing the agenda they voted for just over one year ago thwarted by unelected lower court judges in a blatant disregard of anything resembling the “democracy” they hear Democrats cry so much about.
So when a jury of regular Americans in Wisconsin was finally given the opportunity to weigh in on an activist, rogue judge who thumbed her nose at President Trump and proclaimed, “I’ll take the heat” (because she didn’t really think any heat would come her way), they found her guilty of felony obstruction.
Once Again, the 1st Circuit Puts a District Court Judge in Check Over Planned Parenthood Funding
Facing the threat of impeachment charges from Wisconsin state lawmakers, Judge Dugan has since resigned in disgrace.
Hopefully, it’s another good start.
Judges are but one of the coequal branches of government, not a sovereign ruling over the other two. Judges who want to ignore the law should “take the heat” and run for office to change those laws. And if they decide they are above the law, rather than getting reversed on appeal, even from those who may even be sympathetic politically, they should be impeached.
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on our problem with rogue judges as a first step.
Let’s hope it’s not the last, OR that at least other judges will take note and wear their robes with more judicial restraint than we saw in the first year of President Trump’s second administration.
Michael Thielen is President and Executive Director of the Republican National Lawyers Association, www.rnla.org.
Editor's Note: Radical leftist judges are doing everything they can to hamstring President Trump's agenda to make America great again.
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