(Bloomberg) – Wisconsin state judge must face the accusation of a crime of interfering with US immigration bodies after the federal judge rejected her claim to immunity.
The decision on Tuesday means that the US Ministry of Justice can move forward with the prosecution of Judge Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan. Its indictment was part of the wider backward intervening of US officials against the so -called towns of shrines and local authorities perceived as in the path of immigration interventions by President Donald Trump.
Dugan, who rejected the unlawful conduct, may appeal against the decision of the US district judge Lynn Adelman. The decision did not deal with the advantage of basic criminal proceedings. Adelman accepted the recommendation of the US judge of the USA, who refused Dugan’s claim for immunity before the prosecution for conduct she adopted as a judge and proposed that the case proceed.
Dugan’s lawyers and spokesperson of the Ministry of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Dugan was arrested in May and accused of trying to prevent members of US immigration and a working group for enforcement of the customs enforcement before the arrest of Mexican immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who appeared in her courtroom.
The accusation of the two number claims that Dugan has directed federal officials away from the Flores-Ruiz location inside the Milwaukee courtyard, and then let him and his lawyer go through the non-public door.
Adelman rejected Dugan’s arguments for the immunity that the shield of the judges to be prosecuted as steps they consider to be their official duties. The judge also found that the government had credibly claimed that Dugan’s alleged action had fallen beyond her judicial role, which means that it would not be covered, even if there were some limited judicial immunity.
“There is no basis for imposing immunity simply because some of the accusations in the indictment describe behavior that could be considered” part of the judge, “wrote Adelman.
Flores-Ruiz was arrested outside the court building. In June he confessed to illegal being in the US in June and agreed to be deported, according to court records.
Dugan’s lawyers also claimed that the accusation had violated the division of the constitution between the federal government and the states. Last year, its lawyers quoted the decision of the Supreme Court of the US Supreme Court that Trump – and all US presidents – have extensive immunity to prosecute for official acts.
“Judges are entitled to maintain control of their courts and generally a court building,” Dugan wrote.
The US law firm in Milwaukee, which deals with prosecution, faces that Dugan’s lawyers pushed the “produced version” of the judicial immunity based on “in fact unsatisfied and inaccurate that the federal government somehow tried to” command “or” control “the state.
At the beginning of July, the US judge of American judge Nancy Joseph called on Adelman to reject the right to immunity and state that the accusation is not related to Dugan’s legal views or the court proceedings, but separate, obstructive acts. Joseph refused Dugan’s argument that the judge motive, especially whether he acted for “self -confidence”.
Federal judges are appointed by US district judges for an eight -year period. They may chair certain cases and make a binding decision, but also to fulfill a supportive role, including the preparation of reports with the recommendations of district judges that need to be considered on questionable issues in the case.
Originally it was scheduled to start 21 July, but was indefinitely postponed in the middle of the fight with immunity.
The case is the US v. Dugan, 25-CR-89, the US District Court, the eastern district of Wisconsin (Milwaukee).
(Updated with details from opinion and background.)
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(Tagstotranslate) Wisconsin state judge
