J. Michael J. Luttig, a former U.S. judge with strong GOP pedigree, fears Trump's attack on the judiciary could have a "catastrophic end" for the rule of law

 

J. Michael Luttig: Putting country over party -- and Trump (HuffPost)

Donald Trump's abuse of the U.S. justice system could end in catastrophe, a former federal judge, former member of the Reagan administration, and two-time George H.W. Bush appointee says. J. Michael Luttig has been a prominent Republican for almost 45 years and even served as a law clerk to former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Conservative credentials do not come much stronger than Luttig's, so when he expresses concern about the danger Donald Trump poses for the rule of law, Americans would be wise to pay close attention. Luttig is one member of the GOP who puts country over party, and that appears to be a major reason he is raising alarms about Trump.

Lee Moran, of HuffPost, examines Luttig's views on a fellow Republican who, as president for a second time, seems determined to push the legislative and judicial branches aside so he can sit astride the executive branch and rule over all. That, of course, would be an authoritarian form of government -- a notion Trump has openly mused about creating for what once was known as the world's greatest democracy. 

What is Luttig's greatest fear about Trump? It appears to be that the president's disrespect for legal and governmental norms will cause our democracy to come crashing down around us. Lee Moran takes a close look at that fear and associated issues under the headline "Conservative Legal Icon’s Chilling Trump Admission: ‘I Don’t Know Where This Ends...’; J. Michael Luttig warned of a “catastrophic end”:

Conservative former federal judge J. Michael Luttig, this weekend, tore into President Donald Trump and his administration for “waging war” on the federal judiciary and the rule of law.

The assault began on Trump’s very first day back in office, Luttig told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi.

And the legal icon admitted: “I don’t know where this ends.”

Luttig, a staunch and vocal critic of Trump’s attacks on democracy, took particular issue with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s accusation that judges who have ruled against the president’s policies and executive orders are “deranged.”

“No, the judges are not deranged, Pam Bondi,” said Luttig.

“They are simply enforcing their oath to the Constitution of the United States. The same oath that you, Madam Attorney General, took yourself,” he pointed out.

Then Luttig confessed:

“I don’t know where this ends . . . but it appears that, in this moment, the president intends to prosecute this war against the federal judiciary and the rule of law to its catastrophic end.”

Luttig's concerns clearly go well beyond Pam Bondi to Trump himself. Moran writes:

Earlier this month, Luttig argued Trump’s claim of not knowing if he has to uphold the U.S. Constitution was “perhaps the most important words ever spoken by a president of the United States.”

“The temptation here is to dismiss the president’s words as just another gaffe, of which he makes many. But I don’t think we should do that,” he said.

“I’m quite confident that the president was saying what is on his mind and that is that he, the president of the United States, doesn’t necessarily believe that he is obligated to uphold the Constitution of the United States, as it is interpreted by the Supreme Court,” added Luttig, who advised Trump first-term Vice President Mike Pence on rejecting Trump’s bid to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Trump's statement that he didn't know if he was obligated to uphold the Constitution surely was disconcerting to many rational, informed Americans -- excepting the most rabid MAGA diehards. But Luttig's reaction seemed to go beyond "disconcerting" to "disturbing" -- likely because he has been around politics and the law long enough to know that nothing Trump says or does can be normalized.

In a jointly published article at HuffPost and Yahoo! News, here is Lee Moran's take on Trump's admission that he is more or less clueless about the Constitution:

Conservative former federal judge J. Michael Luttig on Monday sounded the alarm over Donald Trump’s recent remark that he doesn’t know if he is obligated to uphold the U.S. Constitution, calling it “perhaps the most important words ever spoken by a president of the United States.”

Luttig, a longtime critic of Trump’s anti-democratic rhetoric, told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace: “The president always says what’s on his mind with almost perfect clarity of what is on his mind. Now, sometimes what’s on his mind is confusing, but the words that he chooses are perfectly clear as to his confusion. . . .”

Luttig characterized Trump’s statement as a form of “constitutional denialism,” the school of thought that argues the Constitution doesn’t mean what the Supreme Court interprets it to be.

What Trump believes about his obligation to uphold the Constitution “is one of, if not the single most important issue of our times,” Luttig concluded.