U.S. President Donald Trump looks on on the day of a meeting with U.S. ambassadors at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 25, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, now 70, has been a prominent figure in the conservative legal movement for decades. After serving as an associate White House counsel for Reagan Administration, Luttig was appointed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals by President George H.W. Bush appointed in 1991 and stayed there until 2006.
But Luttig is a scathing critic of Donald Trump. And he endorsed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, making it clear that he would rather support a liberal who agrees with the rule of law than a Republican who doesn't.
Two months into Trump's second term as president, Luttig analyzes Trump's battle with federal judges in an op-ed published by The New York Times on March 23.
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Trump is calling for the impeachment of federal judges who are temporarily blocking some of his executive orders, and Luttig warns that the president is setting off a "constitutional crisis."
"President Trump has wasted no time in his second term in declaring war on the nation's federal judiciary, the country's legal profession and the rule of law," Luttig warns. "He has provoked a constitutional crisis with his stunning frontal assault on the third branch of government and the American system of justice. The casualty could well be the constitutional democracy Americans fought for in the Revolutionary War against the British monarchy 250 years ago."
Luttig continues, "Mr. Trump has yearned for this war against the federal judiciary and the rule of law since his first term in office. He promised to exact retribution against America's justice system for what he has long mistakenly believed is the federal government's partisan 'weaponization' against him…. But unless Mr. Trump immediately turns an about-face and beats a fast retreat, not only will he plunge the nation deeper into constitutional crisis, which he appears fully willing to do, he will also find himself increasingly hobbled even before his already vanishing political honeymoon is over."
The conservative former federal judge notes that Trump's attacks on Judge James Boasberg received a stern rebuke from U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts. Trump was furious with Boasberg for temporarily blocking the deportations of Venezuelan nationals allegedly associated with the violent Tren de Aragua gang and called for his impeachment, but Roberts reminded Trump that federal judges — whether Trump agrees or disagrees with their ruling — play an important role in the United States' system of checks and balances.
"No one wants murderers or other criminals to be allowed to stay in this country, but to rid the country of them, the president first must follow the Constitution," Luttig writes. "Judge Boasberg doesn't want to assume the role of president; the president wants to assume the role of judge…. If Mr. Trump continues to attempt to usurp the authority of the courts, the battle will be joined, and it will be up to the Supreme Court, Congress and the American people to step forward and say: Enough."
J. Michael Luttig's full New York Times op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).