Like attorney George Conway, retired federal Judge J. Michael Luttig is a prominent figure in the conservative legal movement who became a blistering critic of President Donald Trump and considers him a dangerous threat to U.S. democracy.
Luttig rooted for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2024, as did Conway. Now, nine and one-half months into Trump's second presidency, Luttig is still sounding the alarm.
During a Sunday morning, November 2 appearance on MSNBC, Luttig argued that because the U.S. Supreme Court is failing to discourage Trump's attacks on democracy and the rule of law, it's up to the lower federal courts to fight back.
Noting recent anti-Trump pleas from U.S. Circuit Court Judge Susan Graber and others, Luttig told host Ali Velshi, "These pleas would never have to occur if the Supreme Court of the United States had reassured America that it sits in order to prevent this kind of tyranny in the United States of America. But as you know, the Supreme Court has done anything but reassure America. That's why, for the first time to my knowledge — in all of American history — the federal judges and also the state judges now have no choice but to speak directly to the American people through their opinions, I must add, rather than speak only to the Supreme Court of the United States."
Luttig continued, "There has never been a time in our history like this, Ali, for the federal judiciary. Never before has the federal judiciary and even individual judges — individual judges of the federal courts — been savagely attacked by the president of the United States of America. His aim is clear: It's to delegitimize the federal courts in the eyes of the American people and to intimidate the federal courts into ruling in his favor."
The conservative jurist was also highly critical of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Luttig told Velshi, "But as I said…. the lower federal courts of the United States — by which I mean the federal district courts and the U.S. courts of appeals — will not be intimidated by this president and his attorney general. They will, to the person and to the court, honor their oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
When Velshi asked Luttig if he had a message for Chief Justice John Roberts and others on the High Court, he responded, "The Supreme Court and the chief justice of the United States have no higher obligation to the country or to the Constitution than to condemn the vicious attacks on the federal courts and even on individual judges of those courts."
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