Shortly after the wrongful arrest of Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, another Wisconsin judge is coming under fire for standing up for justice.
Sawyer County Circuit Court Judge Monica Isham had reportedly sent out an email referring to Dugan and saying that she would not let anyone be dragged out of her court by ICE agents without due process:
In the email, Isham reportedly noted she had sworn an oath of support to the U.S. and the Wisconsin constitutions. She also reportedly added that Judge Dugan was standing by her oath of office when she confronted ICE officers who came to her courtroom in Milwaukee and escorted the defendant they’d come to arrest out a side door.
“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. Enough is enough,” the email message said.
“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 ball money?”
Adding more tension to the situation, Isham is a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and is the first woman and first Native American judge in Sawyer County and only the second Native American judge in the entire state.
The divide in public opinion is probably what the gentle reader already surmised, white Republican men are apoplectic over the reported email, demanding her resignation, her impeachment, and even going as far as making threats towards Isham. It has gotten to the point where Isham had to conduct court proceedings via zoom and the county had to beef up security in the courthouse.
Isham does have her supporters as well:
On Thursday, May 1, there was a large demonstration at the corners of state highways 27 and 63 in the city of Hayward with many people holding signs supporting Isham.
At 2 p.m. approximately 80 demonstrators left the corner by the state highways and walked two blocks by the Sawyer County Courthouse, and they were joined at the courthouse by over 20 students from Lac Courte Oreilles K-12 school who said they came out to support Isham, a fellow tribal member.
While 100 people might not sound like a lot, this is a very rural area in Northern Wisconsin, so it is actually is a respectable crowd, relatively speaking.
Make no mistake about it. That the right wing is ready to resort to violence against two women judges for standing up for the rule of law shows that all of this is not about the law or justice or even the Rancid Kumquat’s executive orders. It’s all about their own bigotry, racism, xenophobia and hate.