J. Michael Luttig Resigns From Appeals Court

[tritsofme]

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.

Luttig, who sits on the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, wrote the most important appellate decision yet in support of the Bush administration's powers to detain individuals without recourse to ordinary legal protections.

However, he had a significant falling-out with the Bush Justice Department earlier this year when he protested, in a follow-up opinion, what he suggested was the administration's inappropriate manipulation of the legal system in order to avoid a further Supreme Court test of the president's wartime authority.

His public thrashing of the Justice Department was known to have been deeply upsetting to political appointees in the department.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051000929.html?nav=rss_nation


This guy was always on a shortlist of possible Bush SCOTUS nominees.

[thereismore]

1. Great. Now * can appoint a doubly insane asshole in his place. nt

[The Stranger]

6. That would be very hard to do.

[hogwyld]

10. Well, you gotta keep that powder dry!! n/t

[AndyTiedye]

12. Especially When The Only Powder You've Got Is…

[Sammy Pepys]

2. Probablystarted seeking out other options...

...when he got passed up for SCOTUS.

[northzax]

4. yeah, why stay in a 125,000/year government job

when boeing will add a couple of zeros?

[BrklynLiberal]

3. So, from a crook on the courts, he became a corporate crook. Just going

to more familiar territory, no doubt.
Now that he has learned how the courts work, he will be better able to work them to the corporation's advantage. And make a hell of a lot more $$ too.

[gratuitous]

5. Looks like he might be exhibiting signs of growing a conscience

Very dangerous to this corrupt administration and its crooked culture. Luttig made a favorable ruling for the administration in its ongoing efforts to set up an American gulag, but is apparently having second thoughts about what he put his legal imprimatur on. Time to step down and walk away from the mess while getting paid a boatload of money. Whew, that was close!

[grytpype]

7. deeply upsetting to POLITICAL APPOINTEES in the department.

ie. Bush thugs

[msanthrope]

8. Holy Crap. I mean, Holy F'ning Crap.

This, more than anything to date, signals to me that the Bush administration is watching the rats leave the ship.

[leveymg]

13. The smart rats are ecaping BushCo, anyway.

The really slow ones are still plugging away inside the box.

Gotta love that electric grid to keep a job with BushCo. It's so tingly!@#

[Lexingtonian]

9. The smart rats are leaving the sinking ship....

Luttig sees that he has zero shot at getting on the Supreme Court. So why not take the dough that's on the table.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. AP/CNN story insists it was over salary ... with a quote!

Judge J. Michael Luttig has been on the U.S Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, based in Richmond, Virginia, for 15 years, and told CNN financial considerations played a major role in his decision.

"I have a family," he said. "This came out of the blue, I wasn't looking to leave the bench. But this represents a wonderful opportunity for me."

Luttig denied he is stepping down because of frustration that he did not get a Supreme Court nomination. "This decision has nothing whatsoever to do with the Supreme Court process," he said. "This is about my family and our future."

The judge has two young children and said living on a government salary in the pricey Washington area has been tough on him and other federal judges. "I would hope my resignation would focus some greater public attention on the issue of salaries."
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/05/10/luttig.resigns/index.html

[SoCalDem]

14. Hey..ya gotta follow the money..

His government pension is probably in the bag, so he's gonna make a pile o' cash now..and he has lots of government contacts to "mine" for Boeing.. They will pay him well :puke: