Boy, they love them the rules, eh?
Like neon lights in the fog, five words we’ve seen and heard everywhere, along with the self-righteous posts:
“Nobody is above the law!”
We heard those five words more than we heard “Good morning” or “Have a nice day.”
They echoed from tote bags, blared across chyrons, and rang out in chants from crowds cheering FBI raids on pro-life activists and conservative school board members—repeated so often that we began to believe they meant what they said.
However, when progressive Milwaukee Judge, County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan helped a man here illegally slip out the side door with hopes of dodging ICE like a rabbit outrunning a cheetah, those five very sacred words vanished.
Suddenly, without a preamble, those five words were replaced by:
“She was acting in her official capacity.”
Suddenly, she moved beyond accountability to a black-robed monarchy.
The Act Itself Wasn’t Subtle
When we examine the story stripped to its basics, it’s simple. Judge Dugan presided over the case of one Eduardo Flores-Ruiz on domestic violence charges. Because deportation orders were already on record, ICE agents were waiting outside the courtroom.
Knowing what was about to happen, Judge Dugan allegedly guided Flores-Ruiz in the opposite direction of the agents and told him to use a side exit.
In case that’s lost in translation, let’s let that sink in. A sitting judge in Milwaukee helped a man evade lawful detention. She didn’t act out of confusion or accident. It was on purpose.
Despite her best efforts, ICE arrested him anyway. Then, however, Dugan tried to disappear the whole thing by filing a motion in May to dismiss her charges by claiming judicial immunity. She claimed the state’s sovereignty was violated by the presence of federal agents in her courtroom.
She’s not interpreting any legal precedent; she’s simply using the language of a person playing Queen of the Court.
The Robes Don’t Erase the Crime
You’re asking, what was Judge Dugan’s argument? She wore the robe, so anything she did while wearing it granted her immunity from persecution. Her lawyers didn’t even bother with subtlety when they argued that since her courtroom belonged to the state of Wisconsin, any federal response would be an intrusion on the state’s authority.
It’s like a police chief claiming perjury doesn’t apply because when they lied, they were in uniform.
What Dugan doesn’t realize is that wearing the uniform, or, in her case, the robe doesn’t grant her a special disposition. Laws don’t work that way.
Or at least, they shouldn’t.
Flip the Script: What If This Was a Conservative Judge?
Let’s play a game. Picture a Trump-appointed judge in Tallahassee smuggles a defendant out the back, helping them avoid President Biden’s DHS. The defendant has priors, and a federal order is in place to detain him. In other words, it’s the same facts but different politics.
Would you think the media would downplay it? Would NPR refer to it as routine judicial discretion? Would MSNBC call the action brave?
Pfft! As if. They’d howl. Insurrection would trend, and indictments would be filed before the ink was even dry.
Headlines would blare: Sedition! Abuse of Power! Interference with Federal Enforcement!
Because it’s in a blue county with a left-leaning judge, the narrative flips. The judge is the victim, politically targeted by Trump’s vengeful DOJ.
Please! Spare us.
The Crowned Class and the Soft Coup of ‘Moral Immunity’
This isn’t about Judge Dugan. It’s about the growing class of public officials who see their job titles as shields, not responsibilities.
We’ve reached a point where entire ideological movements believe they shouldn’t face consequences because they mean well. Morality, they say, supersedes law. And morality, they decide, lives on their side of the aisle.
We see it with prosecutors refusing to charge violent offenders in Chicago and Oakland.
We see it with sanctuary city mayors thumbing their noses at ICE.
Now we’re seeing it with a judge who thinks she’s immune to criminal law because she took an oath… and then promptly violated it.
We’ve Been Here Before
History is full of people who believed power placed them above accountability.
King John tried to dodge the Magna Carta. Claimed his rule was divine. His nobles disagreed violently.
Richard Nixon clung to the line: “When the president does it, it’s not illegal.” He lost the public. Then, the presidency.
Now comes Dugan, cloaked not in God or office but in progressive virtue. She didn’t say, “I’m innocent.” She said, “I was judging.” As if that made her untouchable.
Same game. Different players.
One Judge Still Believes in the Law
Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph wasn’t fooled. She reviewed the motion. She considered the sovereignty claim, the immunity defense, and the suggestion that this case would chill judicial independence.
And she said no.
In her ruling, Joseph reminded the country that criminal immunity isn’t automatic. Judges are not gods. They’re not monarchs. They can be tried when accused of criminal conduct, just like the rest of us.
She didn’t declare guilt. She didn’t hold a secret trial. She simply allowed the prosecution to proceed.
You’d think she’d have tossed a torch on the Constitution, the way some activists reacted.
The Manufactured Panic
Since Joseph’s ruling, the media outrage machine has gone full tilt. Petitions. Editorials. Experts warn that this case could set a dangerous precedent. They say judges might hesitate to act freely. They say this is intimidation.
But they never say what Dugan actually did.
They never tell readers she actively worked to prevent federal law enforcement from executing lawful detention.
They reduce the crime to “judicial discretion.” As if shielding an illegal immigrant from arrest is just a hiccup in procedure.
Let a sheriff do that, and it’s obstruction.
Let a clerk do it, and it’s criminal facilitation.
But a liberal judge? Suddenly, it’s a misunderstood policy moment.
Final Thoughts
The robe doesn’t make you holy. And it sure doesn’t make you immune.
Judge Dugan may have believed she was protecting someone from injustice. But the law doesn’t care about feelings. It cares about actions. And no one, no matter their intentions, is allowed to obstruct federal agents from carrying out lawful duties.
The case will go forward. The jury will decide.
That’s the rule of law. That’s the system the Left claimed to love until it came for one of their own.
They told us the rules.
Then they torched them.
And yet, when it comes from the Left, the argument is always the same: “You’re politicizing justice!”
Translation: How dare you hold us accountable.
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