Judge Dugan was arrested without presenting case to grand jury-this was a stunt to whip MAGA faithful into a frenzy

[LetMyPeopleVote]

I am a corporate lawyer but I do know basic federal criminal procedure. Judge Dugan was arrested on a magistrate warrant and the case had NOT been presented to a grand jury. Before this case can go to trial, this case has to be presented to and voted on by a grand jury. The arrest on Friday was a stunt to "whip the MAGA faithful into a frenzy." One can arrest a suspect without a grand jury indictment but normally there has to be good reason for such arrest

New in PN: Arresting judges is a 5-alarm escalation

"It’s not just that Dugan was arrested, but how she was arrested. The whole point was to cause a scene. There’s no allegation she was attempting to evade arrest, but the FBI still forced a sitting judge to do a perp walk at her place of work."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-04-28T13:24:43.255Z

New in PN: Arresting judges is a 5-alarm escalation

"It’s not just that Dugan was arrested, but how she was arrested. The whole point was to cause a scene. There’s no allegation she was attempting to evade arrest, but the FBI still forced a sitting judge to do a perp walk at her place of work."

Link to tweet

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-bondi-arresting-judges-hannah-dugan

It’s not just that Dugan was arrested, but also how she was arrested. The whole point was to cause a scene. She was arrested Friday morning in the parking lot of the Milwaukee County Courthouse, complete with handcuffs. There’s no allegation she was a flight risk or was attempting to evade arrest, but the FBI still forced a sitting judge to do a perp walk at her place of work.

Additionally, Dugan was arrested pursuant to a criminal complaint signed by a federal magistrate judge. There’s nothing improper about that as such, but for felonies in federal court, prosecutors must convene a grand jury and present evidence. Only if the grand jury returns an indictment can someone be prosecuted.

Going before a grand jury isn’t a nicety or a minor procedural step. The Fifth Amendment requires it. Arresting Dugan before convening a grand jury was intended to get flashy headlines and whip the MAGA faithful into a frenzy. Even if a grand jury declines to indict Dugan, the administration has succeeded in creating a climate of fear and suspicion.

Recall that although Trump faced 88 charges in four criminal cases for much worse things than what Dugan is accused of, he was always charged by indictment after presentation to a grand jury and allowed to turn himself in. Here he is in Georgia, where he faced 13 felony counts for trying to overturn the 202 election. Here he is in New York, where he faced — and was convicted of — 34 felonies related to falsifying business records to hide his hush payments to Stormy Daniels. New York state was so solicitous of Trump that he didn’t even have to have his mug shot taken. When he voluntarily surrendered in Miami for the classified documents case, he wasn’t handcuffed.,,,,,

It will be interesting to see a grand jury would indict this judge on the actual facts

One hurdle prosecutors might have in securing an indictment against Dugan was that ICE had an administrative warrant, not a judicial warrant, for Flores-Ruiz. The criminal complaint obscures this, referring only to a “warrant” or an “arrest warrant” in most places. The only time an administrative warrant is mentioned is when the complaint quotes Dugan saying it.

As much as the administration would like it to be otherwise, those administrative warrants aren’t the same as judicial warrants. Judicial warrants are signed by a federal or state judge or magistrate and must be complied with as long as they are valid. Administrative warrants — also known as immigration warrants — are issued by administrative agencies such as ICE and signed by an immigration judge. Despite also being called judges, immigration judges are not part of the judicial branch. They are appointed by the attorney general and are part of the executive branch.

I wonder if this case will ever be presented to a grand jury,

[FarPoint]

1. A deliberate, filthy stunt....

Without a consequence for tRump gang leaders.

[Irish_Dem]

2. A deliberate stunt to send a message to all judges.

Cross Trump and he will arrest you in public, humiliate you and ruin your career.

[Keepthesoulalive]

4. All he has is stunts

Signing executive orders, clearing a street of protesters while holding a bible upside down. Americans never get tired of a circus and he gives them one everyday.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Yes Americans want to be entertained, they don't like (boring) serious professional leadership.

We are living in a reality TV show, the more horrid drama, the more the cult loves it.

[Keepthesoulalive]

7. Yep

Their lives must be terribly boring to keep electing the chaos master.

[Irish_Dem]

9. For decades parents have worked hard to always keep their kids entertained.

All kinds of lessons, after school activities, video, phones, etc.
People don't know how to entertain themselves or have time to think about things.

[Keepthesoulalive]

11. My husband sometimes says

Thinking is painful, mainly when you have been taught not to think or feel. In high school they made us think. Ivory Soap 99 percent pure. Pure what? We sat there with our mouths open. We learned not to trust commercials. Children now are taught to take tests and remember inconsequential dates and tidbits of facts not how and why. No wonder the orange degenerate won.

[DENVERPOPS]

12. AND, at the same time

put it out there to his Trumphumpers, that he has no intention of doing what is legal, or obeying the U.S. Constitution.....so they can all get the feeling that THEY TOO can ignore the rule of law..........

[Irish_Dem]

16. Yes Trump is creating a violent lawless society for his flying monkeys and gestapo.

They can threaten, scam, terrorize the population to make them afraid, docile, compliant.

His billionaire pals can destroy the planet and humans with no regulations and also
scam, cheat, steal, lie to their customers.

[CanonRay]

3. We were trained to not arrest on a Magistrates Warrant.

If the case was important enough to work, we took it to a Grand Jury. This is highly unusual.

[newdeal2]

6. Unusual because it's a farce for show

Kash wasting money so he can show he's doing something for Trump.

[oasis]

8. MAGAs dismantling democracy piece by piece.

[malaise]

10. DUh

They are ReTHUGs in name and nature

[Mountainguy]

13. This is exactly what I was talking about

when I said Democratic governors need to put State Police details on their judges.

First they need protection from the cultists.

Secondly they need protection from performative arrests. Want to arrest a judge? Get a warrant or fuck off.

[markodochartaigh]

14. Well, that's a whole lot of legalese and fancy words there.

Are you sure that it applies to Democratic suspects?

[Figarosmom]

15. No this was a stunt

TO SCARE JUDGES into getting with the program. Today they even went so far as to say they would arrest a Supreme Court Judge, uf they got in their way.

[Meowmee]

17. Another one, very bad

I have to look up what she was supposedly arrested for, a big fraud. I am sure as usual.