MADISON, Wis. — A federal judge has upheld the obstruction-of-justice conviction of former Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan for aiding a man wanted by immigration authorities to evade arrest at a courthouse in 2025.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ruled Tuesday that Dugan’s conviction will stand, rejecting her defense team’s request to overturn it based on recent changes in legal interpretations involving immigration enforcement. Dugan, who resigned from the bench shortly after her December 2025 conviction, faces up to five years in prison but is considered likely to receive probation under federal sentencing guidelines due to her lack of prior criminal history and the nonviolent nature of the offense. No sentencing date has yet been set.

At the center of the case was an incident that occurred on April 18, 2025, when immigration agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrived at the Milwaukee County courthouse to detain Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a man who had reportedly reentered the United States illegally. Flores-Ruiz was scheduled to appear before Dugan on a state battery charge. According to court records, Dugan confronted the agents, doubting the validity of their administrative warrant to arrest Flores-Ruiz and directing them to the chief judge’s office. After the agents left, Dugan reportedly helped Flores-Ruiz and his attorney exit through a private door. ICE agents subsequently spotted Flores-Ruiz in a corridor, pursued him on foot, and arrested him. He was deported in November 2025.

Dugan was arrested a week after the incident at the courthouse. She was convicted of obstruction of justice but acquitted of a lesser misdemeanor charge of concealing an individual to prevent arrest.

Dugan’s defense team argued that the federal law under which she was convicted requires a “pending proceeding” involving immigration enforcement, and since only an administrative warrant—rather than a court order—was involved in Flores-Ruiz’s arrest, the obstruction charges should be dismissed. They cited a recent ruling by a federal appeals court in Virginia, which overturned a similar conviction on the basis that the ICE action did not relate to a “pending proceeding” as defined by law.

Prosecutors countered that the facts in that Virginia case differ from Dugan’s and contended other case law supports her conviction. Judge Adelman agreed, noting that ICE exercises unique powers that include issuing its own warrants and conducting removal proceedings without court involvement. He characterized the arrest attempt as a “pending proceeding” because it was a targeted operation designed to take Flores-Ruiz into custody in connection to his immigration status.

The case drew national attention as an early test of legal boundaries under the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement policies. Supporters of Dugan claimed she was unfairly targeted for performing her duties as a judge, whereas administration officials and their allies labeled her an activist judge who obstructed law enforcement.

Following her conviction, Dugan resigned from the Milwaukee County Circuit Court after serving nine years amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers.