Tag: wisconsin

Supreme Court Sides With Catholic Charities in Case About Tax Exemptions for Religious Organizations

The Supreme Court unanimously sided with Catholic Charities Bureau on Thursday, ruling that Wisconsin discriminated against the organization by denying tax exempt status and violated the First Amendment’s protection for religion. 

Wisconsin has a law, similar to most states and the federal government, that exempts certain religious organizations from paying unemployment compensation taxes. The statute exempts nonprofit organizations “operated primarily for religious purposes” and “operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches.” Catholic Charities Bureau and four of its sub-entities tried to obtain the exemption in 2016 as an organization controlled by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin.

After years of litigation, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ultimately denied the exemption, ruling that Catholic Charities Bureau was not “operated primarily for religious purposes” because they do not engage in proselytization or limit their charitable services to Catholics. However, Catholic Charities Bureau argued that Catholic teachings do not permit “misus[ing] works of charity for purposes of proselytism.”

“There may be hard calls to make in policing that rule, but this is not one,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the court. 

“When the government distinguishes among religions based on theological differences in their provision of services, it imposes a denominational preference that must satisfy the highest level of judicial scrutiny,” she continued. “Because Wisconsin has transgressed that principle without the tailoring necessary to survive such scrutiny, the judgment of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.”

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Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan Launches Fundraiser After Being Charged With Aiding Illegal Alien Evade Arrest

The left-wing Milwaukee judge charged with helping an illegal alien evade arrest has launched a fundraising site as she tries to push back against the charges.

Earlier this week, a federal grand jury indicted Dugan for obstructing an ICE arrest last month.

Seemingly unable to fund her own legal costs, Dugan has set up a website asking supporters for donations to help fund a “full and aggressive defense.”

Her website states:

The Hannah Dugan Legal Defense Fund has been launched, and is aimed at raising resources to help Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan mount a vigorous defense against  the unprecedented attack on the independent judiciary by the federal government.

The fund, established consistent with Wisconsin’  Code of Judicial Conduct and Code of Ethics for Public Officials and Employees, will help raise the significant resources needed to present an appropriate defense to this extraordinary attack on Wisconsin’s  judicial branch of government.

Judge Dugan intends to return to the bench to which she was elected.  Therefore, the fund’s structure provides for stringent restrictions on contributions and strives for  consistency with state law regarding  permissible gifts.

Because the criminal charges are  unique to a member of the judiciary, and the prosecution poses a host of new questions of law, it will be critical for Judge Dugan to have the significant resources needed to defend herself and the integrity of an independent judiciary.

According to the FBI, Dugan became angry when she learned that ICE agents were waiting outside of her courtroom last week to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an illegal alien involved in a domestic abuse case she was overseeing.

She allegedly directed Flores-Ruiz to leave the courthouse through a private jury door to evade arrest.

FBI Director Kash Patel said she had “intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested at her courthouse.”

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GOP-Led Wisconsin Committee Cuts Governor’s Marijuana Legalization Proposal From Budget

Republicans in Wisconsin’s legislature on Thursday cut key provisions from a state budget proposal by Gov. Tony Evers (D), including plans to legalize and regulate marijuana.

The changes came in a Joint Finance Committee hearing, where members removed a long list of items included in the governor’s budget. In addition to cannabis legalization, other deleted items include tax cuts for the middle class, tax increases for millionaires and state support for children, farmers and veterans.

Evers said on social media ahead of the vote that “today, Republican lawmakers are gutting my budget that does what’s best for our kids and the folks, families, and communities that raise them.”

The committee’s 21 pages of cuts remove multiple marijuana provisions from Evers’s budget, such as regulation, taxation, licensing and civil and criminal legal adjustments.

The actions are a repeat of two years ago, when GOP members of the same committee removed proposals to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use from the governor’s biennial executive budget at that time.

A press release from the governor’s office about Thursday’s committee changes says the legalization proposal would have regulated marijuana “much like the state already does with alcohol, which would help Wisconsin compete with other states for talented workers and have more resources to invest in critical state priorities.”

The reform is “a proposal that over 60 percent of Wisconsinites support,” the release notes, pointing to a poll from February.

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A Newly Discovered Algorithm in Wisconsin Voter File is Indisputable Evidence of Criminal Election Fraud

Andrew Paquette, Ph.D., has discovered a never-before-seen algorithm in the Wisconsin Election Commission’s (WEC) voter registration database, leaving no doubt someone has penetrated the WEC’s computer system to impose a criminal reordering on the voter files. This finding alone should draw the attention of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Kash Patel. Yet, to date, we see no action whatsoever from the DOJ or the FBI investigating criminal election fraud.

Paquette first observed that the WEC voter role had an unusually high number of voter records that ended in zero. Assuming that the WEC voter roll assigned voter ID numbers sequentially, without breaks or outside manipulation, records ending in 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 should appear with equal distribution. As seen in Table 1, voter records ending in zero occurred in 30.6 percent of the voter records, while those ending in numbers 1 through 9 ended with each number appearing equally at 7.7 percent of the time.

Paquette was at a loss to explain this irregularity until he realized that every voter ID record ending in zero had two different Wisconsin voters assigned the same voter ID number. In searching the database, Paquette confirmed that in every case where the same voter ID number was assigned to two different voters, the voter record ended in zero.

We have labeled the two voter IDs tied to WEC voter records ending in zero as “doubles,” a term devised to distinguish this phenomenon from the “modified duplicates” that Paquette previously found in the WEC voter database. “Modified duplicates” involve making multiple voter records for the same voter, which can be done, for instance, by assigning a different birthdate or address to each duplicated record. Because duplicated voters each have different dates of birth or other addresses, the “modified duplicates” appear to be different people.

The point of the “modified duplicate” scheme is to create false voters, all of whom nevertheless get legitimate state voter ID numbers. The non-existent “multiple duplicate” voters can then be hidden back in the voter role, identifiable to the criminals by “algorithm locator numbers,” so they are available for use in fraudulent mail-in ballot schemes.

Why the “doubles” scheme assigns the same voter ID number to two different voters is more difficult to figure out. What is also not clear is whether one or both of the “doubles” are real voters or if both of the “doubles” voters could be fictitious.

A scheme this complicated must operate through a computer algorithm that creates “doubles” for every voter ID record ending in zero in a WEC database of over 7 million voters. That is, whatever rule is applied to pick the two voters who constitute the “doubles” in a database with over 7 million voters needs an algorithm if the scheme is to be applied, monitored, and updated on an ongoing basis.

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Milwaukee Judge Faces Federal Charges Of Obstructing Arrest Of Illegal Alien

The FBI has arrested a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge on charges of obstruction after federal law enforcement officials alleged she misled investigators attempting to arrest an illegal immigrant. 

FBI Director Kash Patel on Friday announced the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan following “evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week.”

“We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest,” Patel wrote in a Friday post X that was briefly removed and then reinstated. 

“Thankfully, our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public,” Patel added. 

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi also confirmed the arrest on X. 

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Lefty judge threatens to close court, start raising bail money for defendants after feds arrested Judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly helping illegal migrant avoid ICE

Monica Isham, a circuit judge Sawyer County, defended Judge Hannah Dugan Saturday, claiming in an email to other state judges that she “has no intention of allowing anyone to be taken out of my courtroom by [Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents] and sent to a concentration camp,” Wisconsin Right Now first reported.

Isham, who in 2023 became the first Native American elected to the county’s circuit court, also threatened to “start raising bail money” for defendants.

“Yesterday, Judge Hannah Dugan of Milwaukee County stood on her Oath in the very building she swore to uphold it and she was arrested and charged with felonies for it,” Isham wrote.

“Enough is enough. I no longer feel protected or respected as a Judge in this administration. If there is no guidance for us and no support for us, I will refuse to hold court in Branch 2 in Sawyer County. I will not put myself or my staff who may feel compelled to help me or my community in [harm’s] way.”

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Another Milwaukee County Judge Joins Rebellion, Floats “New Courthouse Policies” in Response to Radical Judge Vowing to Shield Illegals from ICE Agents

Another Milwaukee judge is joining the rebellion after judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by the FBI for obstructing an ICE arrest last week.

The DOJ on Friday announced Judge Dugan was charged with “obstruction of proceedings before a department or agency of the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and concealing a person to prevent arrest, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison.”

And now a rebellion is growing among other radical judges in Wisconsin.

As TGP reported earlier, in an act of defiance, Sawyer County, Wisconsin, judge Monica Isham said she has “no intention” of allowing any illegal aliens to be taken out of her courtroom, after another Wisconsin judge was arrested for obstructing an ICE operation.

Judge Isham has been on the bench for less than two years and boasts of being the “first woman, first Native American, first minority” to serve as a circuit court judge in Sawyer County.

“Enough is enough. I have no intention of allowing anyone to be taken out of my courtroom by ICE and sent to a concentration camp, especially without due process as BOTH of the constitutions we swore to support requires. Should I start raising bail money?” Wisconsin Circuit Judge Monica Isham wrote in an email obtained by Wisconsin Right Now.

“If there is no guidance for us and no support for us, I will refuse to hold court in Branch 2 in Sawyer County,” she said.

“We have a Judicial District 10 meeting on May 9th and I respectfully ask that we be given some guidance by then so we may discuss as a group in District 10,” the judge said.

In signing off, Judge Isham proudly said she is willing to lose her job or get arrested for doing ‘the right thing.’

“If this costs me my job or gets me arrested, then at least I know I did the right thing,” the judge wrote.

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LOCK HIM UP: LAWLESS WISCONSIN GOVERNOR Issues Guidelines to State Employees to Shield Illegal Aliens from ICE Agents

Democrats chose a hill to die on—they will defend the last violent, human-trafficking Central American gangbanger escape from ICE no matter what the cost.

According to documents leaked by conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell, a Department of Administration (DOA) memo dated April 18 lays out explicit steps for state workers to follow when ICE agents arrive at government buildings.

Instead of cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, employees are being told to stonewall — refuse to answer questions, deny access to files, and even demand agents leave if no attorney is available.

The outrageous memo directs state employees to treat federal agents like unwanted intruders rather than trusted law enforcement partners.

Among the so-called “guidance” given to state workers:

  • Refuse to answer any questions, even about known individuals ICE is seeking.
  • Deny agents access to paper files and computers, even if they present a warrant.
  • Block agents from entering non-public areas, unless they produce a judicial warrant.
  • Demand agents sit in isolated public areas and force them to wait indefinitely while contacting attorneys.
  • Order agents to leave and return later if a state lawyer isn’t immediately reachable.

In short, employees are ordered to stall, obstruct, and protect illegal aliens — even if those aliens are dangerous criminals wanted by the federal government.

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“This is Not Normal”: Democrats Miss An Obvious Problem With The Arrest Of The Wisconsin Judge

“This is not normal.” Those words from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., are undeniably true after the arrest of Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan. However, the reason it is not normal is far more debatable. Dugan is accused of becoming a lawbreaker in seeking to obstruct an effort to arrest a man wanted by federal authorities. If true, that is manifestly not “normal.”

As soon as the news of the arrest was reported, Democrats declared another constitutional crisis. Klobuchar added that the arrest “is a drastic move threatening the rule of law” and a “grave step and undermines our system of checks and balances.”

That is a curious claim unless Klobuchar believes that the officers are lying. If not, Klobuchar is suggesting that a judge should be allowed (or at least not held accountable) for actively shielding a wanted person and facilitating their evasion of law enforcement.

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., also condemned Dugan’s arrest, stating, “If [FBI Director] Kash Patel and Donald Trump don’t like a judge, they think they can arrest them. This is stunning — we must stand up to this blatant power grab. Republicans: How is this not a red line for you?”

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FBI arrests Wisconsin judge on charges of obstructing immigrant arrest

FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday that the bureau had arrested a Milwaukee judge and charged her with obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week — the first known instance of the Justice Department prosecuting a local official for allegedly interfering with immigration enforcement since President Donald Trump returned to office.

Patel announced the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan in a post on the social media platform X, which he deleted moments after posting. The postaccused Dugan of “intentionally misdirecting” federal agents who arrived at the courthouse to detain an immigrant who was set to appear before her in an unrelated proceeding.

“Thankfully, our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since,” Patel wrote. “But the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public.”

Court records surrounding Dugan’s arrest were not immediately available Friday morning.The FBI declined to comment on why Patel had deleted his post announcing Dugan’s arrest.

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