150 Former Judges Tell Pam Bondi They're Not 'Deranged'

In a letter to the attorney general, former judges say the Trump administration's intimidation tactics will fail.

A group of more than 150 retired state and federal judges sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday condemning the Trump administration’s attacks on the judiciary, saying it’s clear the president believes he can “threaten and intimidate” judges into submitting to his agenda.

The letter focuses largely on the recent courthouse arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, whom FBI Director Kash Patel accused of helping an undocumented immigrant “evade arrest” and posted a photo of her perp walk on social media.

“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,” the letter states, saying it was highly concerning that officers arrested Dugan in her own courtroom without any warning.

“There was no emergency whatsoever; the administration could have easily issued a summons for Judge Dugan to appear before a court, as they would have done in other white collar cases,” the letter said.

The judges also directly responded to Bondi’s recent Fox News appearance in which she called judges like Dugan “deranged.”