Attorneys for former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan filed post-conviction motions in federal court asking U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman to overturn…
Attorneys for former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan filed post-conviction motions in federal court asking U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman to overturn her December 2025 felony obstruction conviction or, in the alternative, to grant a new trial [1]. The filings center on two constitutional arguments: that a common-law privilege bars civil immigration arrests at courthouses, and that the administrative warrant ICE used to justify the arrest was legally insufficient because no judge had signed it [1].
Dugan was convicted in December 2025 following a federal prosecution arising from her alleged interference with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation inside the Milwaukee County courthouse [1]. She resigned from the bench on Jan. 3, 2026 [1]. The post-conviction motions, filed Feb. 3, 2026, are now before Judge Adelman in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin [1]. The Department of Justice prosecuted the case; Dugan's defense team filed the motions following the guilty verdict [1].
The substantive arguments carry implications well beyond Dugan's individual case. Defense counsel contends that an administrative warrant, which is issued by an executive-branch official rather than a federal magistrate or district judge, does not carry the legal force required to authorize a civil arrest in a courthouse [1]. If Adelman accepts that argument, the ruling could function as a categorical bar on ICE courthouse arrest operations across the country, because the agency relies on administrative warrants, not judicial warrants, for civil immigration detentions [1]. The filings separately argue that the prosecution violated separation-of-powers principles by using federal criminal law to override Wisconsin's sovereign authority to administer its own court system [1]. Legal scholars have observed that, if the warrant argument prevails, it would represent a significant structural limit on executive immigration enforcement power in judicial settings [1].
Judge Adelman has not yet ruled on the motions. No hearing date has been publicly confirmed. If Adelman denies relief, Dugan's legal team would face the decision whether to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, where the constitutional questions around administrative warrants and courthouse privilege would reach a broader panel [1]. A ruling favorable to Dugan, conversely, would almost certainly prompt DOJ to seek appellate review, given the nationwide operational stakes for ICE enforcement protocols.
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**Meta Description:** Former judge Hannah Dugan's attorneys challenge her felony obstruction conviction, arguing ICE lacked a valid warrant and that prosecution violated separation of powers.
**Slug:** dugan-post-conviction-ice-courthouse-warrant-challenge
**Tags:** Legal News, Motion Ruling, United States v. Dugan, United States, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Immigration Enforcement, Judicial Independence, Separation of Powers, Hannah Dugan, Lynn Adelman, ICE, Department of Justice, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
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**Metadata:**
– subject: United States v. Dugan, Post-Conviction Motions
– subject_type: Motion Ruling
– date: 2026-02-03
– jurisdiction: federal
– country: USA
– region: Wisconsin
– city: Milwaukee
– key_people: Hannah Dugan, Lynn Adelman, Howard Schweber
– key_organizations: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, ICE, Department of Justice
– themes: Immigration Enforcement, Judicial Independence, Separation of Powers
– significance: Post-conviction arguments that ICE administrative warrants cannot authorize courthouse arrests could, if accepted, prohibit ICE civil arrest operations at courthouses nationwide and establish binding limits on executive immigration enforcement power in judicial settings.
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**References:**
[1] Wisconsin Public Radio. (2026, February 3). Dugan's attorneys argue ICE had no right to make courthouse arrest. https://www.wpr.org/news/dugan-attorneys-argue-ice-no-right-courthouse-arrest-warrants