WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, a bipartisan group of over 150 former federal and state judges sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi condemning the Trump administration’s attacks on the judiciary, including the recent arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan in her courthouse.

The signatories assert the arrest is just the latest in a pattern of retaliatory attacks aimed at intimidating the judiciary after a series of rulings by judges appointed by presidents of both parties holding the Trump Administration accountable for its repeated violations of the Constitution and laws of the United States.

“The circumstances of Judge Dugan’s arrest make it clear that it was nothing but an effort to threaten and intimidate the state and federal judiciaries into submitting to the Administration, instead of interpreting the Constitution and laws of the United States. This cynical effort undermines the rule of law and destroys the trust the American people have in the nation’s judges to administer justice in the courtrooms and in the halls of justice across the land,” the letter reads.

The group, led by former U.S. Federal Judge Nancy Gertner and Judge Michael Luttig, includes other former federal judges, state supreme court justices as well as superior and circuit court judges from over 25 states including California, Texas, Alabama, Iowa, Hawaii, Alaska and many more.

“I have spent my career upholding the Constitution. I never imagined I’d see a judge arrested for doing her job in America. The arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan is a frontal assault on judicial independence and the rule of law,” said Judge Michael Luttig, a signer of the letter. “Such authoritarian tactics are profoundly dangerous. They must be condemned in the strongest possible terms."

"Seeing a fellow judge handcuffed for doing her job, in apparent retaliation, highlights the outrageous authoritarian playbook of the Trump administration," said Judge Nancy Gertner, who also signed the letter. "It is something we should never tolerate in the United States."

"This is a shocking abuse of power – pure retaliation, plain and simple. This isn’t just an attack on one person: it strikes at the heart of what it means to have an independent judiciary. I have spent my career fighting for accountability and ethics in government,” said Norm Eisen, executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund. “I can say unequivocally that this kind of authoritarian stunt sends us down a path which we might not be able to turn back from if we don't counter it."

"Our independent judiciary is an indispensable element of the rule of law, a cornerstone of American liberty, and an essential component of our system of checks and balances,” said Gregg Nunziata, executive director of the Society for the Rule of Law Institute. “Efforts by the administration and its allies to intimidate and delegitimize judges pose a mortal threat to the constitutional order. All American citizens, conservatives and liberals alike, must unite to reject this assault on our common values."

You can read the full letter HERE.

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State Democracy Defenders Fund brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundations of our democracy.

Society for the Rule of Law is a nonpartisan community of lawyers, law students, and civic-minded citizens committed to defending the Constitution and the rule of law against rising authoritarian threats—regardless of political party.