Paul Clement Joins Arrested Milwaukee Judge’s Legal Team (1)

Conservative litigator Paul Clement has joined the legal team representing Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan (D), who was arrested last week for allegedly helping a migrant evade federal immigration officers.

Clement, who’s participated in more than 100 US Supreme Court arguments, is joining a defense anchored by Steven M. Biskupic, the former US Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Together, the two Wisconsin natives will take on lawyers from Biskupic’s former office. They’re joined by lawyers from Milwaukee firms Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas SC and Gimbel Reilly Guerin & Brown.

Clement, the former US Solicitor General known for representing conservative causes and groups such as the National Rifle Association, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

He is representing WilmerHale, which is suing the Trump administration over an executive order targeting the firm. His representation is one a several high-profile rebuffs to the administration’s executive orders seeking to reign in international law firms the president perceives as political foes.

Federal prosecutors allege Dugan concealed an unlawful migrant and obstructed officers when she allegedly steered the man—who was present for a hearing on domestic violence charges—and his lawyer into a private hallway, away from officers seeking to arrest him. Dugan, who was re-elected to a six-year term in 2022, faces up to six years in prison, prosecutors said during her initial appearance Friday before Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries.

Arraignment is scheduled for May 15 in the case, which has raised questions over when judges’ actions to assist migrants could veer into criminal activity and what immunity state judges have for actions taken in their own courtrooms.

While the case will be tried in deep-blue Milwaukee County, the juror pool will also include several conservative rural and suburban counties.

“The problem is that those portions of her conduct that might be characterized as judicial were pretty clearly undertaken in bad faith and for the purpose of obstructing federal law enforcement,” Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, said in a social media post. “Maybe there’s enough to get to a jury and hope it’s sympathetic. But I’m not sure there is enough or that a jury would buy it.”