Retired conservative Judge Michael Luttig is raising the alarm about the possibility of former President Donald Trump being re-elected in an interview released on Monday by The Guardian.
“I am more worried for America today than I was on January 6,” said Luttig, a former clerk for Antonin Scalia and an appeals court judge who was considered by many to be the father of the modern conservative legal movement.
“For all the reasons that we know, his election would be catastrophic for America’s democracy.”
“All that he has done beginning with January 6 has corrupted American democracy and corrupted American elections and laid waste to Americans’ faith and confidence in their democracy to the extent that today millions and millions and millions of Americans no longer have faith and confidence in their elections," said Luttig.
"He’s the presumptive nominee of the Republican party in 2024 and indeed many people believe that he will be the next president."
Luttig added that such a presidency would be "ruinous" to the rule of law.
Luttig has become increasingly vocal against the former president in recent years, arguing alongside former Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe that the Fourteenth Amendment's Insurrection Clause should in fact disqualify Trump from holding office again.
Multiple cases trying to remove Trump from the ballot on those grounds have been advanced in states around the country. One of the largest cases, in Minnesota, was recently dealt a blow by the state Supreme Court, which held state officials couldn't keep Trump off the primary ballot — but could potentially re-file the case with respect to the general election.
Luttig has more broadly warned about the direction of his longtime political party, saying that as of now, "there is no Republican Party" as a functional democratic political organization.
