Remember Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan? The one arrested in April and charged with two federal counts after she allegedly helped an illegal immigrant evade federal immigration authorities? She got some bad news this week.
In May, she filed a motion to have the charges against her dismissed, arguing she was acting in her official capacity as a judge. But on July 7, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph recommended the motion to dismiss be denied.
“Whether Dugan violated these statutes as the government accuses, or whether she was merely performing her judicial duties as Dugan asserts, these are questions for a jury that cannot be resolved on a motion to dismiss,” Joseph wrote in a 37-page report and recommendation. “A judge’s actions, even when done in her official capacity, does not bar criminal prosecution if the actions were done in violation of the criminal law."
While that's a setback for Dugan, things could turn in her favor as the matter will now go to U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, a highly political and outspoken Clinton appointee, as GWU law professor Jonathan Turley points out.
"A judge is expected to come to a case like this one without the burden of his own baggage. Judge Adelman is carrying more baggage than Amtrak in Wisconsin," he said.
[T]he public has a right to expect a fair trial with a judge who will not be swayed by his own political viewpoints," Turley continued. "Dugan already had the advantage of a trial before a jury taken from one of the most liberal districts in the country. She will now have a judge who was himself sanctioned for political statements and reversed for ignoring controlling precedent."
...Dugan was viewed as fortunate in her assigned judge, but she first went before Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph, who correctly denied the motion to dismiss. https://t.co/J5BAbbnp6N This will make it tougher for Judge Adelman to dismiss the case after such a well-reasoned opinion.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 8, 2025