In April, the FBI arrested a Wisconsin state judge on allegations that she willfully interfered with and obstructed federal proceedings when she helped a wanted criminal illegal alien attempt to evade capture by federal agents waiting outside a courtroom to serve a lawful arrest warrant.

However, Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan has now asserted that the criminal case against her must be summarily dismissed, as she is protected by "absolute immunity" from prosecution for her "official acts," the New York Post reported.

Left unexplained in Dugan's filing is how her allegedly providing false information to federal agents to aid and abet a criminal illegal alien in attempting to evade a lawful arrest warrant somehow constitutes a part of her official duties as a state judge.

Judge helped an illegal alien attempt to evade a federal arrest warrant

According to a Justice Department press release, it was on April 18 that multiple federal agents waited in a hallway outside Judge Dugan's Milwaukee courtroom to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a previously deported Mexican national who had illegally reentered the U.S. and was scheduled to appear in court for a hearing on a trio of domestic battery charges.

Dugan angrily confronted the agents, falsely told them they needed a judicial warrant to make an arrest in the courthouse, and sent them to see the chief judge to obtain said warrant.

Meanwhile, as those agents were otherwise distracted, Dugan swiftly postponed Flores-Ruiz's hearing -- despite his alleged victims being present for the proceeding -- and then guided the defendant and his attorney to a non-public hallway from which to exit the building.

Federal agents nonetheless spotted and followed Flores-Ruiz as he attempted to escape, and he was ultimately apprehended just a block away from the courthouse following a brief foot pursuit. About a week later, Dugan was likewise arrested and, in May, was indicted by a grand jury for obstructing a federal proceeding and for concealing a wanted individual to prevent their arrest.

Judge claims "absolute immunity" from criminal prosecution

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Judge Dugan, in response to the federal indictment, has asserted in a legal filing that the criminal case against her must be immediately dismissed because she is fully protected from prosecution by judicial immunity, and even went so far as to cite the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity last year as supporting precedent.

On Thursday, Dugan's team of attorneys filed a 37-page memo in further support of an earlier motion to dismiss on immunity grounds, and asserted that Dugan, like all other judges in the U.S. and the United Kingdom for the past 400 years, enjoys "absolute immunity" from civil or criminal prosecution for their "official acts," albeit with some limited exceptions for violating constitutional rights or for acts that are "wholly unrelated" to her official duties as a judge.

It was further argued that the federal indictment of Dugan was an overreach of federal authority and a violation of the Tenth Amendment and the separation of powers doctrine.

"This is an extraordinary prosecution that poses a threat to federalism and judicial independence," the attorneys said in the filing. "Dismissal here flows from a straightforward application of long-settled law. The indictment itself is an ugly innovation. Its dismissal will not be."

The memo further insisted that the court "should not engage in factfinding" in the case, as Dugan's judicial immunity was not a defense to be raised at trial or debated in motions but rather "blocks proceedings at the outset."

Judge's actions were "shocking and shameful"

As noted, Judge Dugan's filing fails to explain how her hustling a criminal illegal alien facing arrest and deportation out the back door of her courtroom to evade federal agents is part of her "official duties" as a judge, and not actually a violation on her part of federal law and her own profession's code of ethics.

In reaction to Dugan's filing, the Post reported that Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "Since President Trump was inaugurated, activist judges have tried to obstruct President Trump and the American people’s mandate to make America safe and secure our homeland-- but this judge’s actions to shield an accused violent criminal illegal alien from justice is shocking and shameful."