Former Judge Dugan keeps law license for now, court rules
Hannah Dugan license suspension; court denies
A court has denied the immediate license suspension for Hannah Dugan, who was found guilty of obstructing federal agents from carrying out an immigration enforcement operation. FOX6 Political Reporter Jason Calvi joined FOX6 NOW to talk about this latest decision.
MILWAUKEE - Former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan will keep her law license, for now, the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided Wednesday, Sept. 16.
Dugan's law license
How we got here:
The court's Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) filed a motion for the summary suspension of Dugan's license in July, and Dugan filed a response in opposition in August. On Wednesday, the court ordered not to summarily suspend Dugan's law license.
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The OLR requested the court use that authority after Dugan's felony conviction. Conservative Justices Brian Hagedorn and Annette Ziegler dissented, meaning they supported suspending Dugan's law license.
What's next:
As a result of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's decision Wednesday, the OLR will go through the full process of reviewing whether to suspend her law license.
What was Dugan's conviction?
The backstory:
A grand jury's two-count indictment accused Dugan of obstructing federal agents and helping an undocumented man evade those agents, who planned to arrest him inside the Milwaukee County Courthouse to arrest him in April 2025. Prosecutors said Dugan told the agents to go to the chief judge's office down the hall and then directed the undocumented man and his attorney to leave her courtroom through a back door.
Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, the man Dugan was accused of helping, was ultimately arrested outside the courthouse. He later pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the U.S. and, in November 2025, was deported.
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In December 2025, a jury found Dugan guilty of felony obstruction but not guilty of the misdemeanor charge that accused her of helping the undocumented man evade the agents. She resigned as judge in early January 2026.
Dugan's defense team made several attempts to get a new trial and an acquittal. Ultimately, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ruled Dugan would not serve any prison time and issued her a $5,000 fine.
Hannah Dugan leaves federal Courthouse in downtown Milwaukee
‘Proceedings’ at center of appeal
Dig deeper:
Defense Attorney Jason Luczak said they planned to appeal the fine to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Dugan's appeal will likely center on the word "proceedings."
In April 2026, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Virginia, ruled in a different immigration case. That court found that obstructing an ICE arrest warrant did not constitute interfering with a federal proceeding.
That ruling became the basis for one of Dugan's appeals prior to sentencing. Federal prosecutors argued other cases back up Dugan's conviction, and they also argued the appeals court ruling did not apply to the Dugan case.
The Source: Information in this post was provided by the Wisconsin Court System, as well as federal court filings and prior coverage of the case.