MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- On Tuesday, April 29, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Milwaukee County circuit court judge Hannah Dugan from performing her official duties.

It's the latest step in the saga that's getting national attention after Dugan was arrested by the FBI last Friday, April 25.

The state Supreme Court took the action on its own, as the administrative authority over all courts in the state. Judge Dugan was already pulled off her cases.

The order read in part, "…in order to uphold the public's confidence in the courts of this state during the pendency of the criminal proceeding against Judge Dugan, we conclude, on our own motion, that it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties."

After the suspension, Dugan's legal team told us in a statement, "We are disappointed that the Court acted in unilateral fashion. We continue to assert Judge Dugan's innocence and look forward [to] her vindication in court."

The suspension comes as Dugan is accused of helping Eduardo Flores Ruiz elude federal authorities.

"That does not surprise me," retired circuit court judge Mary Kuhnmuench told us, "because they have to do what's in the best interest of the judiciary."

Kuhnmuench worked with judge Dugan and knows her well.

She said, "They're trying to paint a picture of a very uncontrolled, angry, anti-law enforcement type."

But that portrayal is not consistent with the Dugan that Kuhnmuench knows.

But Kuhnmuench still said there were damning allegations, like Dugan stopping Flores Ruiz and his attorney from leaving her courtroom through the main door and instead motioning them to follow her to a different exit. "The appearance is bad. And that's a particularly difficult fact," Kuhnmuench said.

Those facts will be litigated in court. But the political battle over Dugan and the allegations is already underway.

Dugan was arrested Friday at the courthouse. She was handcuffed in public, then taken to a holding cell. "It's an affront to the third branch of government. And it's disgraceful," Kuhnmuench said.

She said there's usually a dignity to the process, one afforded President Trump when he surrendered to authorities.

She said many in the legal field think Dugan's arrest was meant to send a message. "For the mere purpose, from my perspective, of embarrassing Judge Dugan. And embarrassing the judiciary."

Kuhnmuench thinks the goal was to intimidate and take over the judiciary. "That we cannot do," she said, "Because if we do that, we are one step closer to a tyranny. And we should all be afraid of that."

Judge Kuhnmuench said hundreds of law enforcement officers are in the courthouse every day, both federal and local. That's not out of the ordinary.

But she said many are concerned with ICE agents in the courthouse because it needs to remain a sanctuary where people can participate in the justice system without fear or intimidation.