Jonathan Turley Expertly Dismantles Wisconsin Judge's 'Immunity' Defense After Video Evidence Goes Public

As RedState reported, video evidence in the Hannah Dugan case was released Thursday.

Dugan, a Milwaukee County Circuit Judge, was seen briefly (and agitatedly) talking to ICE agents in a hallway and directing them to speak with the chief judge about their plan. She was also seen appearing to help illegal immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer slip through a jury door in mid-April to evade the federal agents who were waiting outside the courtroom to arrest him.

Milwaukee County Chief Judge Carl Ashley has noted since her arrest on two counts, including obstruction, that even though their warrant was administrative and not judicial, the ICE agents had a right to do what they were going to do because they were in a public hallway. Judge Dugan's defense is that "she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts," and her lawyers are citing the Supreme Court's Trump presidential immunity ruling to try and make their case.

George Washington Law School Professor Jonathan Turley has had a lot to say about this case, and after the release of the video, he noted that he found Dugan's defense "hard to understand," considering it's clear by watching the tape exactly what happened:

You know, these types of videotapes always make it more difficult for the defense. I spent most of my career as a criminal defense attorney.
And that type of visual evidence makes it very difficult, because there's no denying what occurred here. What the judge is trying to say is that she has immunity, that what she was doing, she was doing as a judge. I find that pretty hard to understand. If you are an NFL linebacker, you have a right to tackle people on the field. You don't have a right to go out in the parking lot and start tackling people.
You had the same situation as a member of Congress; you had protections under speech and debate on what you said on the floor. But when you left the floor, you lost those special protections.

Turley went on to lay out why the video is so damning for Dugan:

This video shows that same line here. She first tells these agents to go speak to the chief judge. She falsely tells them that they cannot conduct an arrest in the hallway, which is not true. She tells them to go talk to the chief judge, and what does he say in response? He says, of course, you can carry out the arrest in the hallway.
So she was wrong. So she left her courtroom, and even though she was wearing a robe that was not part of her courtroom. It was not part of her proceeding. She was facilitating someone's escape from federal authority, and I don't see how that fits into any judicial function.

Watch:

Jonathan Turley: Wisconsin Judge’s Robe Doesn’t Extend Immunity to Facilitating Escape

"So she left her courtroom and even though she was wearing a robe that was not part of her courtroom. It was not part of her proceeding. She was facilitating someone's escape from federal… pic.twitter.com/AOry36Isol
— Mr Producer (@RichSementa) May 24, 2025

Sounds pretty solid, but we have to remember that U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, who was supposedly picked at random to preside over her upcoming trial, is an 85-year-old flaming liberal Clinton appointee known for overstepping his bounds and for having deep disdain for President Trump and the conservative majority Supreme Court.

As for how this trial plays out, the pre-trial date is July 9th. Assuming it gets that far, the trial itself is set to start on July 21st. We'll keep you updated on developments.

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