Who Is J. Michael Luttig, The Conservative Judge Who Opposed Pence Overturning 2020 Election?

Topline

Retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig, who spent his career serving under conservative presidents and justices, testified to the House January 6 Committee Thursday that former Vice President Mike Pence had no legal authority to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election and doing so would have provoked a “constitutional crisis,” describing Trump’s post-election efforts as a “war on democracy.”

Key Facts

Luttig testified to the House January 6 committee Thursday as part of a broader hearing on the pressure on Pence to overturn the election results, after the vice president’s team reached out to Luttig in the lead-up to January 6 for his opinion on the legality of challenging the vote count.

Luttig tweeted on January 5 that Pence had no legal basis to block Congress from formalizing Biden’s win—which he reiterated during his testimony on Thursday—and Pence cited Luttig and his legal analysis in his letter explaining why he would let Congress approve the election results.

Luttig was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush, and served on the court until his retirement in 2006.

Prior to taking the bench, Luttig served in the White House under multiple GOP presidents, serving at the Justice Department during George H.W. Bush’s presidency and as assistant counsel at the White House from 1981 to 1982, when Ronald Reagan was president.

He also served as a law clerk for conservative-leaning Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and as a clerk and special assistant to Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative-leaning justice who was appointed by President Richard Nixon.

Luttig also worked as a lawyer at a private law firm and held roles at Boeing and Coca-Cola after stepping down from the Fourth Circuit.

Crucial Quote

“I believe that had Vice President Pence obeyed the orders from [Trump] … that declaration of Donald Trump as the next president would have plunged America into what I believe would have been tantamount to a revolution within a constitutional crisis in America, which in my view … would have been the first constitutional crisis since the founding of the Republic,” Luttig testified to Congress Thursday, later saying he “would have laid my body across the road” sooner than let Pence overturn the results.

Surprising Fact

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) considers Luttig his mentor and has described the judge, for whom he worked as a law clerk, as “like a father to me.” Among Luttig’s other former law clerks is Trump attorney John Eastman, who helped Trump try to overturn the 2020 election results and pushed for Pence to block Congress’ vote count. Luttig vigorously objected to Eastman’s efforts on Thursday, calling attempts to legally justify overturning the election “constitutional mischief.”

Key Background

Lawmakers used Luttig and Pence attorney Greg Jacob as witnesses Thursday as they argued Trump pressured Pence to overturn the election results despite the president and Eastman knowing he had no authority to legally do so. Trump was repeatedly told that Pence could not legally challenge the vote count, Pence’s chief of staff testified to the committee, but he continued to push the plan anyway, leading to his supporters storming the Capitol building and threatening violence against the vice president. Luttig also testified there was also no legal justification for the “fake electors” scheme the Trump campaign pushed, in which Republicans submitted alternate slates of electors to Congress claiming Trump won battleground states and not Biden. Thursday’s hearing marked the third of at least seven public hearings the January 6 committee is holding, which detail how Trump “oversaw and coordinated” a plan to overturn the election that culminated with the January 6 attack on the Capitol building.

Further Reading

Jan. 6 Hearing: Republican Who Advised Pence Will Testify Trump Had ‘Well-Developed Plan’ To Overturn Election (Forbes)

Jan. 6 Hearings: Pence Told Trump ‘Many Times’ He Couldn’t Overturn Election Results, Staffer Says (Forbes)

Who Is John Eastman? The Attorney At The Center Of Trump’s January 6 Strategy. (Forbes)