Ex-Judge Blasts Judiciary, Nation For Not Calling Out Trump
By: President George (HuffPost)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
LOADINGERROR LOADING
Former federal judge J. Michael Luttig on Friday blasted former President Donald Trump for his repeated attacks on the nation's judicial system, calling on leaders in both the state and federal courts — alongside all Americans — to do more about it.
"Never in American history has any person, let alone a President of the United States, leveled such threatening attacks against the federal and state courts and federal and state judicial officers of the kind the former president has leveled continually now for years," Luttig said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
"But suffice it to say, never in history has any person leveled such attacks and been met with such passivity, acquiescence, and submissiveness by the nation," he continued.
The Nation is witnessing the determined delegitimization of both its Federal and State judiciaries and the systematic dismantling of its system of justice and Rule of Law by a single man - the former President of the United States.
— @judgeluttig (@judgeluttig) March 29, 2024
Luttig, a Republican, was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, and he served until 2006, when he left for a higher-paid position with Boeing. He currently works for Coca-Cola.
He said in the post that it is the Supreme Court's "responsibility" to "protect the federal courts, the federal judges, and all participants in the justice system," adding that the same was true for the state courts.
Luttig praised U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton for going to CNN with his concerns this week. Walton, whose court is in the District of Columbia, criticized Trump in an interview Thursday. Sitting judges typically do not grant interviews to the media.
Trump's attacks, Luttig said, amounted to a "reprehensible spectacle."
"Ultimately, however, it is the responsibility of the entire nation to protect its courts and judges, its Constitution, its Rule of Law, and America's Democracy from vicious attack, threat, undermine, and deliberate delegitimization at the hands of anyone so determined," he concluded.
Trump has most recently been going after the daughter of the judge who is overseeing his criminal hush-money trial in New York. He has criticized other judges overseeing cases against him, various prosecutors and entire appellate districts that did not rule in his favor. During his New York state business fraud trial, Judge Arthur Engoron threatened to jail Trump if he did not stop trashing the judge's staff.
Luttig also played a role in the House select committee hearings on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He testified publicly before Congress in June 2022 to say that "our democracy today is on a knife's edge."
Read Luttig's full comments below.
The Nation is witnessing the determined delegitimization of both its Federal and State judiciaries and the systematic dismantling of its system of justice and Rule of Law by a single man — the former President of the United States.
In the months ahead, the former president can only be expected to ramp up his unprecedented efforts to delegitimize the courts of the United States, the nation's state courts, and America's system of justice, through his vicious, disgraceful, and unforgivable attacks and threats on the Federal and State Judiciaries and the individual Judges of these courts.
Never in American history has any person, let alone a President of the United States, leveled such threatening attacks against the federal and state courts and federal and state judicial officers of the kind the former president has leveled continually now for years.
But suffice it to say, never in history has any person leveled such attacks and been met with such passivity, acquiescence, and submissiveness by the nation.
It is a regrettable commentary on our times that a lone federal judge, The Honorable Judge Reggie B. Walton ― because no one whose responsibility it is to do so has had the courage and the will ― would finally be left no choice but, himself, to express on national television the profound concerns of the entire Federal and State Judiciaries over Donald Trump's contemptible attacks on the federal and state courts, the judges of these courts and their families, and the other participants in the judicial process.
It is the responsibility of the Supreme Court of the United States in the first instance to protect the federal courts, the federal judges, and all participants in the justice system from the reprehensible spectacle of the former president's inexcusable, threatening attacks, just as it is the responsibility of the respective State Supreme Courts in the first instance to protect their courts and their state judges from the same.
Ultimately, however, it is the responsibility of the entire nation to protect its courts and judges, its Constitution, its Rule of Law, and America's Democracy from vicious attack, threat, undermine, and deliberate delegitimization at the hands of anyone so determined.
Tags
Who is online
668 visitors
It appears the former 'president' has the Supreme Court in his pocket. I'm disgusted by this POS being allowed to get away with what he's been getting away with and the SC giving him a pass.
this should have been the headline in every newspaper and news broadcast in the country, but it wasn't, was it?
The attacks are warranted.
Prosecutors who run on "getting someone" and go on social media to taunt defendants shouldn't be prosecutors in the first place.
trump has three bad habits,
he's vicious
he's nuts
he's stupid
So he is the Republican version of Brandon and typical Democrats.
And his cult believe he is a victim and every word out of the turd's mouth.
plus he's evil
So you are admitting trumpy is a POS? Got it.
Yes, Trump is as big of a POS as Brandon and the average Democrat.
Would you care to admit the same?
utterly absurd
LOL. The article is almost entirely about Trump's attacks on judges and their courts.
Yes, I know. I only wish the New York appellate Court had acted a little more expeditiously.
When the left is using and abusing the courts, the DOJ, and the FBI to go after political rivals and their supporters, they can expect pushback by Trump and those that support the presumption of innocence and due process.
The liberals seem to think it's OK to berate and demean the present Supreme Court, which many believe to be conservative.
[deleted][✘]
[✘]
It's got a lot of CONS and Token Thomas.
Right... Impeached twice, indicted 4 times, found legally liable for rape and facing 88 felony counts...
But sure, NONE of it can possibly be true.
Do you hear yourselves? WOW.
By Pelosi and the TDS driven House Democrats. The first impeachment investigation barred Republicans from asking questions of witnesses; and in some cases even attending. The second impeachment there wasn't even an investigation.
As for the indictments- 3 by rampant TDS Democrats that ran on "getting Trump" to get elected. One by pit bull Smith- who has been reprimanded by the Supreme Court in previous federal cases. Back by the most partisan AG and DOJ ever.
Democrats can't win in a fair and open election- Brandon has a piss poor record as President to run on- so they are using lawfare to try and remove their top political opponent. Only in fascist shit holes like China, Russia, and Iran does this type of thing happen.
Can't tell the truth? No, Trump wasn't found liable for rape. They found he was liable for sexual abuse. Of course it was a TDS driven NY jury, judge, and the accuser had rich Democrat donors paying for her lawyers. She proved jack shit of nothing. The only reason she won because it was Trump.
Circle back Jen Psaki is that that you.The 88 accounts go with the four indictments- and many of them are overlap- and over charging. Several have already been dropped due to Democrat DA's being unable to follow the damn law.
Of course this is coming from the same people that think the Hur report exonerated Brandon from illegally having classified documents.
Do you hear yourselves leftist? Wow.
Remind of this the next time Democrats threaten to pack the Court, call a judge biased claim a court’s ruling is illegitimate.