Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Congressional caucuses Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Social media Miscellaneous Other John Michael Luttig (/ˈluːtɪɡ/ LOO-tig; born June 13, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as a U.S. circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006.
After law school, Luttig spent a year in the Reagan administration as an associate with the White House Counsel, Fred F. Fielding, who hired him on Burger's recommendation.
He returned to government service in 1989, holding various positions within the United States Department of Justice until 1991 under President George H. W. Bush, including assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel.
Luttig's help to Thomas in his highly contested confirmation hearings and their aftermath was somewhat controversial because Luttig's own appointment to the federal bench had been approved by the Senate, but he delayed taking the judicial oath of office, presumably because he could not credibly serve as a federal judge, who is supposed to be nonpartisan, while fulfilling the task of ensuring that Thomas got a Supreme Court seat.
[11][12][13][14] On April 23, 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Luttig to fill a newly created seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
On the bench, Luttig was compared to Justice Antonin Scalia for his analytical rigor and for criticizing his colleagues for inconsistencies or embellishments in their judicial opinions.
[25] In September 2005, Luttig wrote the opinion for a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit that upheld the government's power to designate José Padilla, the alleged "dirty bomber" who was captured at a Chicago airport, as an "enemy combatant" and to detain him in a military brig without charge.
[26] In December, the Bush administration, anticipating a reversal in the Supreme Court, petitioned the Fourth Circuit for approval to transfer Padilla to civilian custody for a criminal trial.
On May 10, 2006, Luttig resigned his federal judgeship to become general counsel and senior vice president for the American airplane manufacturer Boeing,[15][30][31] replacing Douglas Bain.
[37] Luttig's resignation coincided with the terminations of former CEO Dennis Muilenburg and former Commercial Aircraft Executive Kevin McCallister that year, during the Boeing 737 MAX groundings crisis.
Pence rejected Eastman's argument and instead agreed with Luttig and another conservative scholar, John Yoo, that a vice president has no such constitutional authority.
Pence released a letter on January 6 stating he would not attempt to intervene in the certification process, citing Luttig by name, who later said it was "the highest honor of my life" to be involved in preserving the Constitution.
[46] The following year, on June 16, 2022, Luttig testified during a televised hearing conducted by the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
[47] Before the hearing, Luttig wrote a statement for the record,[48] stating that Trump and his allies "instigated" a war on democracy "so that he could cling to power."
[50] On August 19, 2023, Luttig and liberal legal scholar Laurence Tribe, published an article that argued that Trump is barred from presidential office pursuant to the Insurrection Clause (section 3 of the 14th Amendment) because of his apparent support for the January 6 United States Capitol attack[51] and, regardless of the riot, "no person who sought to overthrow our Constitution and thereafter declared that it should be 'terminated' and that he be immediately returned to the presidency[52] can in good faith take the oath that Article II, Section 1 demands of any president-elect."
[53][54][55] Luttig makes the point that [Groups that filed lawsuits to bar Trump from the ballot] do not yet understand what disqualifies the former president, namely an insurrection or rebellion against the constitution.