The Trump administration has a “very serious chance” of losing a powerful weapon against judges, predicted legal journalist Adam Klasfeld.
In a recent episode of Legal AF, Klasfeld spoke about the case against Hannah Dugan, the Milwaukee circuit court judge who distracted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while she sent the immigrant they were seeking out a side door.
“It’s a shocking thing when a judge is arrested,” Klasfeld reflected. “It showed the Trump administration’s priorities to go after any judge that they believe is standing in the way of ICE enforcement.
She was convicted by a jury of obstructing an official proceeding in December, but her legal team filed a motion for an acquittal of that charge.
“She has a very serious chance of an acquittal here,” Klasfeld said, explaining that recent cases have changed the legal precedent establishing ICE arrests with an administrative warrant as an official proceeding.
If a federal judge agrees to acquit Dugan, it will take away “one of the most powerful arrows in the quiver of the Trump DOJ to target judges who want to preserve the integrity of their courthouse,” Klasfeld said.
“It can deprive the Trump DOJ of one of the few victories it has had in a high-profile case, particularly a politically charged high-profile case,” Klasfeld added. “If an ICE arrest based on an administrative warrant is not a proceeding, then that sword of Damocles hanging over local county and state judges around the country, that is removed. That is removed from the Trump DOJ’s quiver.”
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