A Milwaukee judge who was arrested for allegedly shielding an undocumented immigrant from ICE arrest has argued that she can’t be prosecuted based on the same case that granted President Donald Trump broad immunity for “official” acts.

The FBI arrested Hannah Dugan last month after she allegedly told agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that they needed a warrant to arrest an undocumented immigrant who had appeared in her courtroom on a misdemeanor charge.

The motion argued that the problems with the prosecution were “legion,” including the fact that they allegedly violated the U.S. Constitution’s fundamental principle of federalism. But “most immediately, the government cannot prosecute Judge Dugan because she is entitled to judicial immunity for her official acts,” it said.

As evidence, the motion cited the 2024 Supreme Court case Trump v. United States in which the court ruled the president had absolute immunity for “official acts.”

  • floofloof@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    As a judge she knew the difference between due process and extrajudicial kidnapping for trafficking to a foreign concentration camp. She was standing up for the rule of law, and the fascists in charge are determined to punish her for it.

    • SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      I’ll show you the line that was crossed.

      The Rule of Law is supposed to lift law above politics. The idea is that the law should stand above every powerful person and agency in the land.

      Rule by law, in contrast, connotes the instrumental use of law as a tool of political power. It means that the state uses law to control its citizens but tries never to allow law to be used to control the state.

      Rule of Law: law is above politics.

      YOU ARE HERE

      Rule by Law: control the individual.

      Right there!

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        Let me show you the predicate that failed.

        Rule by law, in contrast, connotes the instrumental use of law as a tool of political power. It means that the state uses law to control its citizens but tries never to allow law to be used to control the state.

        As a completely unfounded opinion on the role of ethics, this blatantly beggars the question.

    • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I’m fully banking on it. They’ll argue the office of the president is “special” and not beholden to the same rules and regulations that are supposed to bind public servants. And the SC will grant them that.

      • TheLiveFive@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Then they will be opening themselves for future prosecution for their acts. I could see them (majority) siding with her just to protect their asses.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      2 months ago

      I was under the impression that that was really the case and didn’t apply to anyone else in government.

  • JakenVeina@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    On one hand, turnabout is always a good time. Maybe it’ll clue some folks in to how bullshit that decision was, from the start.

    On the other hand, lol, no it fucking won’t. They’ll just make up some other new bullshit reason that “no, that doesn’t actually apply, in this one specific case, where the person we want to prosecute doesn’t agree with us”.

  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I hope it works, but I wouldn’t count on it. Hypocrisy has become a valued skill rather than a character flaw in this administration.

  • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Shit yea, they apply immunity for official acts all the way down to the level of street cops who get away with crimes against the public, so why shouldn’t it apply to that judge