Our forthcoming book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. The second Trump administration is off to an ominous start.
Democratic lawmakers reacted with ferocity — and some Republicans with cheers — to the Friday arrest of Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly helping an undocumented defendant avoid arrest by ICE agents.
Why it matters: To Democrats, the arrest marks a significant escalation in President Trump's efforts to consolidate power and use federal law enforcement to crush legal obstacles to his agenda.
- "It is remarkable that the Administration would dare to start arresting state court judges," said House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). "It's a whole new descent into government chaos."
- "The Trump administration again is breaking norms in how it's dealing with immigration, the legal system, and normalcy. ... This is stuff I expect from Third World countries," Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) told Axios.
- Said Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio): "They arrested a judge?! They can no longer claim to be a party of law and order. This will have to be a red line for congressional Republicans. Unbelievable."
Behind the scenes: Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have urged patience, insisting to the base that they're hard at work targeting "deep state" provocateurs and other enemies of MAGA. Friday's arrest took some pressure off.
Patel has "been taking a little heat from our base, actually," Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said on Charlie Kirk's podcast. "Kash and Pam both — [Trump faithful] want to know: What are they doing? They need to get started. This just shows you they do a lot of stuff behind closed doors and they can't do it in public, but they're acting fast on it."
"Just because you're not seeing something in the news does not mean that it's not happening," Mike Davis of the Article III Project, and a top Trump ally, added on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast. "There's a lot going on. There's a lot more that's coming. I can assure you … we're firing on all cylinders in the Trump administration."
Attorney General Pam Bondi actually seemed to lean into the idea that this was part of the larger pattern of judicial wrongs that the administration now seeks to right. Her commentary is unlikely to temper fears that the administration is trying to send a message to other judges who would stand in its way.
Appearing on Fox News, Bondi discussed the Wisconsin case and another in which a local New Mexico judge resigned after a man the government has alleged is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was arrested at his home.
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When Fox host John Roberts asked about the perception created by arresting judges — “They’ll say this is a government that is expanding the powers of the Article One of the Constitution, now they’re arresting judges,” he said — Bondi didn’t dispute that.
“No one is above the law, John,” she said. “No one is above the law in this country.”
At another point, fellow host Sandra Smith asked, “So when you see these judges trying to obstruct your efforts to make this country safer, what is your message to them?”
Bondi responded: “We are going to prosecute you, and we are prosecuting you.”
The big question for our democracy and our separation of powers is just how broad is the administration’s definition of obstructing its efforts to make the country safer. Obstruction is a legal term, but also a political one.
At the very least, the administration appears to be content to send a signal to other members of the judiciary to look at what’s happening and think the administration is more than ready for an ugly power struggle.
