So, We’ve Entered The ‘FBI Arresting Judges’ Stage Of Dystopia

Earlier this morning, FBI Director and Big Lie children’s book author Kash Patel announced that the FBI had arrested a Wisconsin judge. Befitting a serious law enforcement operation, Patel posted it on social media in a post he’s already deleted. Almost as though someone with an actual grasp of how law enforcement is supposed to work intervened to counsel against a speaking not-actually-an-indictment outlining the judge’s alleged crime, which amounts to refusing to surrender her plenary power over her courtroom to thugs nabbing random minorities and sending them to El Salvador.

As the Brennan Center notes, there’s a reason why judges, generally, oppose ICE using their courthouses to make arrests. “Back in 2018, nearly a hundred judges wrote to the Trump Admin to say that when ICE shows up to courthouses it scares away people who need to access the courts to keep them and their communities safe.” This fear is magnified when the administration is already on record that they aren’t concerned about accidentally sending someone they pick up to an El Salvadoran gulag. Why would someone originally from another country trust the courts to protect their tenants’ rights or help them get child support if they know ICE will camp out at the courthouse and doesn’t particularly care if the people they nab actually have legal status?

This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to go after a judge. Back in 2019, the government charged a Massachusetts judge with obstruction of justice, claiming the judge schemed to let the man wanted by immigration officials sneak out a back door of the courthouse after a hearing. Those charges were ultimately dropped, avoiding a confrontation with the legal twilight zone of cops using courtrooms as sting operations without the consent of the judge.

But even that judge wasn’t arrested. The agents of Law & Order: Clown Car Unit did not give Judge Dugan an opportunity to surrender, instead getting treated like a violent criminal for allegedly refusing to sacrifice her courtroom sovereignty.

The absolute power a judge wields over their courtroom is steeped in the dusty volumes of Ye Olde English law that originalists love to selectively cite. They are gods in that room and while there should be repercussions for abusing that power — like, when they harass and intimidate innocent children — judges enjoy massive deference to execute the judicial function. Part of that judicial function is marking a clear delineation between executive law enforcement and the role of the judge — and making sure judges aren’t just fancy executive branch deputies requires judges being able to control their courthouses.

And yet that’s where they arrested Judge Dugan, choosing to nab her at 8 a.m. at the Milwaukee County Courthouse instead of, you know, her home….

Franklyn Gimbel, a prominent Milwaukee defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, called Dugan’s arrest “outrageous.”

“First and foremost, I know — as a former federal prosecutor and as a defense lawyer for decades — that a person who is a judge, who has a residence who has no problem being found, should not be arrested, if you will, like some common criminal,” Gimbel said. “And I’m shocked and surprised that the US Attorney’s office or the FBI would not have invited her to show up and accept process if they’re going to charge her with a crime.”

Yes, but arresting her at her home would not entail the same performative disrespect for the rule of law as rolling up on a courthouse to arrest a judge. This is, of course, the lens through which every Trump administration action must be viewed. It’s why it goes up on social media before they can get an indictment. It’s why they keep moving people in violation of court orders. And it’s why they keep playing photoshop with tattoos.

So, yes, they wanted to arrest a judge. And, yes, they wanted to make sure it was a splashy event in a courthouse. It’s ALL a pageant for the purpose of eroding faith in the rule of law.

Amazing that the people who dress in robes are not the cosplayers in this scenario. On the other hand, the guy whose qualification to run the FBI is writing a fairy tale for 4-year-olds about the 2020 election putting on a farce totally tracks.

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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