One little paragraph can say so much:
Appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig, a leading conservative jurist and a short-list Bush administration candidate for the Supreme Court, announced today that he is resigning from the bench to serve as senior vice president and general counsel of the Boeing Co.
While I was shocked when Luttig was passed over twice for a nomination to the Supreme Court, it looks like he has landed on his feet. Now, don’t get me wrong, someone has to be senior vice-president of Boeing Co. They are a very important corporation that is vital to our national security and they employ thousands of Americans. Boeing isn’t evil and I don’t have ill will toward them. But, isn’t it just a little strange that they chose to hire a man as senior vice-president that is better known for his vast knowledge of constitutional law than for his experience with the aerospace industry?
Well, no. It’s not strange. Luttig has connections. And even if he isn’t the best man for the job (and maybe he is) dangling top salary jobs like this in front of sitting judges has to do wonders in courtrooms all across America.
Score another one against the little guy.
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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) 5 minutes ago — Judge J. Michael Luttig has resigned from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to accept a job as senior vice president and general counsel for Boeing Co.
Luttig, 51, a conservative judge, had been mentioned last year as a possible nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.
He was appointed to the 4th Circuit by former President Bush in 1991, becoming the youngest federal appeals court judge in the country. The Richmond-based appeals court is widely viewed as the most conservative in the nation.
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 337 F.3d 335 (2003) (available here). In his dissent from the court’s denial of rehearing en banc, Judge Luttig suggested that on rehearing he would have agreed with the government’s position that the role of a court in a habeas proceeding is to “confirm that there is a factual basis supporting the military’s determination that a detainee is indeed an enemy combatant.” This stance is more deferential to executive power than the rule ultimately adopted by the Supreme Court, which held that a combatant be given a “meaningful opportunity to contest the factual basis for that detention before a neutral decisionmaker.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
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WASHINGTON (CNN) August 22, 2001 — It has been during his time on the 4th Circuit bench that Luttig has developed his reputation, staking out some of the most controversial opinions from that bench in recent years.
Two years ago, he wrote an opinion striking down the Violence Against Women Act on the grounds that Congress had overstepped its authority in establishing the legislation. In 1998, he reversed a lower court ruling and upheld a Virginia ban on partial birth abortion. A year earlier he issued a ruling allowing the state to require parental notification before a teen-ager could obtain an abortion.
Luttig was a supporter of capital punishment long before Beazley and two accomplices in the carjacking — brothers Donald and Cedric Coleman — killed his father and wounded his mother in the driveway of their home in Texas.
Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and David Souter recused themselves from a petition to review Beazley’s case because of their ties to Luttig. That led to an unusual 3-3 Supreme Court tie, which was not enough to stay his execution.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
BooMan, I’m sure you also read the dkos diary on this. Boeing didn’t pick Luttig for his “connections”, it is indeed because of his knowledge of their business. He was knowledgeable enough to rule in their favor on several different cases, and I agree with Nathan that this looks a lot like payment for services already rendered.
I don’t see how getting this Bush-appointed right-wing activist off the bench is anything but good for America.