The federal government has started arresting state trial judges who are not cooperating in the federal government’s roundup of alleged undocumented immigrants in state courthouses.
Is this a message from federal agents that no one is above the law or are these actions an assault on the judiciary? That is the question currently being debated by legal scholars.
Recently, Wisconsin state trial judge, Hannah Dugan, was arrested by the FBI for obstruction or impeding federal immigration officers and concealing an individual to prohibit his arrest.
The incident arose out of a situation where undocumented immigrant Eduardo Flores Ruiz was appearing before Judge Dugan for assault charges when six federal agents showed up to arrest him.
It is alleged that Judge Dugan deterred the federal agents and then provided Ruiz and his attorney a private way to leave her courtroom to avoid the federal agents.
Ruiz was apprehended shortly thereafter.
The next day, Judge Dugan was confronted in the court’s parking lot and arrested by federal agents.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says the arrest sends a strong message to other judges who do not help the Trump Administration.
FBI Director, Kash Patel released, on the social platform X, a picture of Judge Dugan in handcuffs saying the “No one is above the law.”
The facts of the case, however, are not as clear-cut as the federal government alleges and Judge Dugan may have several valid defenses to her actions.
Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended Judge Dugan from her judicial position, while her case is pending.
Hear more on this edition of Next Witness…Please with retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Thomas Hodson.

Court orders are piling up against President Donald Trump and his Executive Orders and the administration seems to be setting a course of not following them. What happens next?
Judges don’t like people not following their orders and there are many options available to judges if they feel a party is flaunting non-compliance.
If a judge feels her/his order is legitimately confusing or vague, the judge may alter the original order to clarify it for the parties or the judge may also impose a stricter order than the first.
However, if the original order is clear, then the judge has the option of finding the non-complying parties in either civil or criminal contempt. If a party is found in civil contempt after a hearing, the party may be fined and put in jail until compliance with the order.
This would not apply to Trump given his immune status issued by the United States Supreme Court, but it may apply to the Attorney General or other agency heads embroiled in the non-compliance.
Civil contempt is handled through the court. Criminal contempt is initiated by a prosecutor. In Trump’s cases, the Department of Justice (DOJ) would not bring criminal charges against itself or one of Trump’s cabinet members.
Instead, the judge would need to have a special counsel investigate and perhaps prosecute the case. This is unlikely.
If someone is found in federal criminal contempt, that person is eligible for a presidential pardon. However, that is not the case with civil contempt.
However, the enforcement relies on the U. S. Marshal’s office which is under the control of the DOJ.
The judge also has the option of sanctioning the attorneys for the non-complying party and bringing disciplinary action against them putting their law licenses in peril.
Finally, a non-complying party may be subject to a criminal charge of obstruction of justice.
This episode of “Next Witness…Please” dives deeply into a judge’s options if someone does not comply with a court order.

The second murder trial of defendant Karen Read is underway just outside Boston and this case has taken on national prominence.
Read, 45, is accused, after a night of drinking with friends, of hitting her boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O’Keefe with her SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die in a snow blizzard on the front lawn of another police officer. The two were allegedly arguing.
She is charged with second degree murder, leaving the scene of an accident and manslaughter while operating under the influence.
Her defense says she is being framed by police officers to cover a murder within the ranks.
Her first trial with 70 witnesses ended in a hung jury and a mistrial on July 1, 2024, after three days of jury deliberation.
At the first trial large groups of vocal protestors stayed outside the courthouse throughout the trial. They were predominately in favor of Read and were stirred up by a blogger called “Turtleboy.”
Her second trial began just recently and is in the process of jury selection. In the interim, the case has been the subject of a highly viewed five-part documentary on HBO/Max called “A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read.”
The second trial has some interesting changes. There is a new special prosecutor brought in to streamline the state’s case and make it clearer for the jury.
Meanwhile, the defense has added a new attorney, Victoria George. Surprisingly, she was an alternate juror at the first trial but never got to deliberate. This is unprecedented.
And while the trial is going on, an appeal has been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court claiming double jeopardy on two of the charges. The defense has learned that the first jury had reached a unanimous verdict of “not guilty” on the murder charge and the leaving the scene accusation but when the jury reported they were deadlocked, the trial judge assumed they couldn’t decide all three cases.
Other twists include: “Turtleboy” is scheduled to be called as a witness even though he has now been charged with “intimidating witnesses” at the first trial. And Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on the case for the Massachusetts State Police, has been fired for sending degrading and somewhat sexual text messages to colleagues about Read during the investigation.
On this episode of Next Witness…Please, our retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Thomas Hodson use the Read cases to decipher trial strategies for you and translate what’s happening with this second trial.