Posted on 05/11/2006 8:59:45 AM PDT by mathprof
After Fight in Terrorism Case, Conservative Star Gives Up Court Seat for Boeing Job.
On Nov. 22, U.S. Circuit Judge J. Michael Luttig was at work in his chambers here when he received a telephone call telling him to switch on the television. There, he saw Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announce that the government would file charges against Jose Padilla in a federal court -- treating the accused terrorist like a normal criminal suspect.
The judge was stunned. Two months earlier, he had written a landmark opinion saying the government could hold Mr. Padilla without charge in a military brig. (Read the opinion.1) The decision validated President Bush's claim that he could set aside Mr. Padilla's constitutional rights in the name of national security. The judge assumed the government had a compelling reason to consider the suspect an extraordinary threat. Now Mr. Gonzales wanted the courts to forget the whole case.
It didn't take long for the judge's anger to burst out into the open. The next month he wrote that moves such as the attorney general's cast doubt on the Bush administration's "credibility before the courts." Judge Luttig tried to block Mr. Padilla's transfer to civilian custody from the brig. (Read the opinion.2) The administration's top litigator fired back that the judge "defies both law and logic."
The clash, which underscores the increasing skepticism among even some conservative jurists toward the Bush administration's sweeping theories of executive power, culminated yesterday in Judge Luttig's resignation. The 51-year-old judge, once considered a likely Bush nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, stepped down from his lifetime seat on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to start a new career in Chicago as general counsel for Boeing Co.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I don't hate Bush. I merely said that my opinion of him has been falling. Sorry if that upsets you.
The judge would have no reason to resign because he didn't like something the Bush administration did in a case before him.
The judge did not work for the Bush administration. He was in an absolutely separate branch of government, and if he wanted to he could sit on the bench and launch as many thunderbolts as he pleased at the administration or any other litigant.
Get back to me when he volunteers his time to an anti Bush advocacy group, but please don't tell me the guy went to Boeing on principle.
My reaction was that the judge needs to re-read the first three Articles of the Constitution. His job was to judge the legality of an act, not its desirability.
One would believe that FReepers think judges should stick to the judiciary and not try and play executive. No loss here.
Who is taking the stupid pills? The President or a Judge believing he is running the executive branch? Seems clear as a bell.
And why exactly should the judiciary have to "trust" the executive? Just interprete the laws and constitution and leave the other branch alone.
Unless you openly declare blind allegiance to the party, you are branded a hater, a racist, a xenophobe, a homophobe, a isolationist, woman-hater, arab-hater, hispanic-hater, etc etc.
I have yet to see the same chorus differ on anything with the WH whatsoever.
Riiight a 10 million dollar salary has nothing to do with it.
Surely you cannot doubt the wisdom of the Nuke Mexico City crowd?
Do you believe that the "whiner choir" that persuaded Bush to drop Miers and nominate Alito were "political propaganda allies of the Democrat Party"?
No one is "branded" but for their comments. Stupid comments can bring out the brand. And we see PLENTY of stupid comments from the Bushwhackers.
He probably realizes that he will now never be on the SC and figured why not for the $$$$$$$$$. Everyone else seems to do it. why not him?
And it works both way and on both sides. Don't forget it!
Hmmm, an intelligent, conservative judge is going to step down from a lifetime appointment because he's angry at someone who is going to be gone in 2 years? What's wrong with this picture?
I really can't blame the man for this. If there is another vacancy, he won't be getting picked, so if he has an opportunity to make the big dollars, why not?
It is time for all true conservatives to stand in support of the overall presidency and for those who pray, to PRAY favor on this president and WISDOM for all his decisions.
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I will never stop praying for the president. I also pray for the dem leadership. These moves, however, are not merely stumbles on Bush's part. His agenda is moving dramatically away from conservative government. I feel the foul winds of political expediency blowing through the Republican party.
You all will get over it.
He's free to do what he wants. But we're getting down to the point where having big bucks isn't going to protect you from the collapse of a united, free country. Not saying this one act will do it, but we're falling down a slippery slope internally while in the early stages of WWIII. Our court system is rotten to the core.
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