Latest news with #Luttig
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Conservative Legal Icon's Chilling Trump Admission: 'I Don't Know Where This Ends...'
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 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 worryingly 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, Ali, 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.' Watch the full analysis here: 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 that 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,' Luttig added. Phil Robertson, 'Duck Dynasty' Star Who Spread Homophobic Hate, Dead At 79 OUCH! WWE Fans Let Ron DeSantis Know Exactly How They Feel New York Post Warns Trump How He's Burning Out Even His Biggest Fans Biden Speaks Publicly For First Time Since Cancer Announcement
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Conservative Legal Icon Calls Out Trump's ‘Most Important Words Ever' From A President
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.' He continued: 'The temptation here is to dismiss the president's words as just another gaffe, of which he makes many. But I don't think that we should do that. 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.' 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. Related...
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump is ‘declaring war' on judicial system: Conservative former federal judge
A conservative former federal judge, J. Michael Luttig, said he believes President Trump is 'declaring war' on the judicial system. Luttig, who was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush and served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006, criticized the president in an op-ed published Sunday in The New York Times. 'President Trump has wasted no time in his second term in declaring war on the nation's federal judiciary, the country's legal profession and the rule of law,' Luttig wrote. The Trump administration is battling a federal judge who sought to stop the deportation of nearly 300 alleged Venezuelan gang members. Judge James Boasberg ordered the plane not to leave the U.S. or to turn around if they already had. He's pressed the administration on the timing of the flights after the American Civil Liberties Union suggested they defied his court order and deported them anyway. The Trump administration said it complied because the planes left U.S. territory by the time the order was issued. Trump has sharply criticized Boasberg and has called for him to be impeached. Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed Boasberg had 'no right' to be asking those questions. The entire altercation has put a spotlight on the executive branch's attempts to skirt judicial power. Boasberg is not the first judge Trump and his allies have called to be impeached. He has called for impeachment for the people who investigated his legal cases both in court and Congress. 'It's no secret that he reserves special fury for the justice system because it oversaw his entirely legitimate prosecution for what the government charged were the crimes of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election and purloining classified documents from the White House, secreting them at Mar-a-Lago and obstructing the government's efforts to reclaim them,' Luttig wrote. Luttig argued that Trump is going to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis if he does not reverse course, and will likely become very unpopular with the American people. He later highlighted the pushback from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, rebuking Trump's call for Boasberg to be impeached. 'No one wants murderers or other criminals to be allowed to stay in this country, but to rid the country of them the president first must follow the Constitution,' Luttig argued. 'Judge Boasberg doesn't want to assume the role of president; the president wants to assume the role of judge.' 'If Mr. Trump continues to attempt to usurp the authority of the courts, the battle will be joined, and it will be up to the Supreme Court, Congress and the American people to step forward and say: Enough,' he wrote. The Hill reached out to the White House for comment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
24-03-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump is ‘declaring war' on judicial system: Conservative former federal judge
A conservative former federal judge, J. Michael Luttig, said he believes President Trump is 'declaring war' on the judicial system. Luttig, who was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush and served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006, criticized the president in an op-ed published Sunday in The New York Times. 'President Trump has wasted no time in his second term in declaring war on the nation's federal judiciary, the country's legal profession and the rule of law,' Luttig wrote. The Trump administration is battling a federal judge who sought to stop the deportation of nearly 300 alleged Venezuelan gang members. Judge James Boasberg ordered the plane not to leave the U.S. or to turn around if they already had. He's pressed the administration on the timing of the flights after the American Civil Liberties Union suggested they defied his court order and deported them anyway. The Trump administration said it complied because the planes left U.S. territory by the time the order was issued. Trump has sharply criticized Boasberg and has called for him to be impeached. Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed Boasberg had 'no right' to be asking those questions. The entire altercation has put a spotlight on the executive branch's attempts to skirt judicial power. Boasberg is not the first judge Trump and his allies have called to be impeached. He has called for impeachment for the people who investigated his legal cases both in court and Congress. 'It's no secret that he reserves special fury for the justice system because it oversaw his entirely legitimate prosecution for what the government charged were the crimes of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election and purloining classified documents from the White House, secreting them at Mar-a-Lago and obstructing the government's efforts to reclaim them,' Luttig wrote. Luttig argued that Trump is going to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis if he does not reverse course, and will likely become very unpopular with the American people. He later highlighted the pushback from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, rebuking Trump's call for Boasberg to be impeached. 'No one wants murderers or other criminals to be allowed to stay in this country, but to rid the country of them the president first must follow the Constitution,' Luttig argued. 'Judge Boasberg doesn't want to assume the role of president; the president wants to assume the role of judge.' 'If Mr. Trump continues to attempt to usurp the authority of the courts, the battle will be joined, and it will be up to the Supreme Court, Congress and the American people to step forward and say: Enough,' he wrote.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Conservative Legal Icon Offers Sobering Admission On If Trump Defies Court Order
Conservative former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig on Tuesday warned about what he described as President Donald Trump's 'war on the rule of law in America' and the unprecedented consequences for the country should Trump defy a federal court order or federal judge. Asked by MSNBC's Ali Velshi what will happen if Trump actually defies such an order, Luttig admitted: 'We don't know what happens.' The country 'will be in a constitutional crisis' as no president of the United States has flagrantly done so before, he noted. 'The courts are considered the least powerful branch because they control neither the purse nor the sword and they have no effective means to enforce their orders other than by judgments of contempt that theoretically, but theoretically only, can be enforced by the marshals of the court,' Luttig explained. 'So, as a practical matter, if the President of the United States defies even a Supreme Court order, there is nothing that the Supreme Court itself could do,' he added. 'And this has been a very tempting thing for this president ever since his first term, as we all know.' Luttig's admission came during a discussion on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' recent rebuke of Trump's call to impeach judges who ruled against his immigration policies. Trump's recent actions are a 'full frontal assault on the Constitution, the rule of law, the federal judiciary, the American justice system and the nation's legal profession,' he said. 'When the president of the United States wages a war on the rule of law and the federal judiciary, Ali, America is in a constitutional crisis.' Watch here: Ex-Labor Secretary Robert Reich Urges Global Boycott Of Travel To U.S. To Protest Trump Tyranny Expert Identifies Democrats' Big Weakness In Opposing Trump 'White Lotus' Star Jason Isaacs' Trump Takedown On Live TV Goes Viral
