J. MICHAEL LUTTIG Biography - Crimes, Laws and people

 
 

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J. MICHAEL LUTTIG

Name: J. Michael Luttig                                                           
Born June 13, 1954 Tyler, Texas                                                   
                                                                                   
J. Michael Luttig (born in Tyler, Texas, June 13, 1954) is an American lawyer     
and a former federal judge.                                                       
                                                                                   
Luttig graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1976. After receiving his 
Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1981 he briefly     
worked for the Reagan administration. From 1982 to 1984 he clerked for then-Judge 
Antonin Scalia of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and     
for Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger. Luttig continued to work for       
Burger as a special assistant until 1985, when he entered private practice. In   
1989, Luttig returned to government service, holding various positions within     
the Department of Justice until 1991.                                             
                                                                                   
On April 23, 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Luttig to fill a newly   
created seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.       
Confirmed by the United States Senate on July 26, 1991, he became the youngest   
judge (at age 37) on a federal appeals court.                                     
                                                                                   
On the bench, Luttig's idiosyncratic but restrained method of judging won wide   
admiration in conservative legal circles as a model of principled jurisprudence, 
and his sharp intellect was widely noted. He was compared to Justice Scalia for   
his analytical rigor and for criticizing his colleagues for inconsistencies or   
embellishments in their judicial opinions.                                       
                                                                                   
Luttig was the leading "feeder" judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, with all but 
two of his law clerks over the last 10 years of his tenure having gone on to     
clerk with conservative justices on the Supreme Court. Luttig's                   
clerks have nicknamed themselves "Luttigators".                                   
                                                                                   
Luttig's father, John Luttig, was fatally shot in 1994 in a carjacking by         
juvenile offender Napoleon Beazley. Beazley was eventually executed after twice   
appealing to the Supreme Court, where Justices Antonin Scalia, David Souter, and 
Clarence Thomas recused themselves because of past associations with Luttig.     
                                                                                   
In 2006 Luttig resigned to become general counsel and senior vice president for   
The Boeing Company. The move came as a surprise to court watchers because         
most federal judges, who are appointed for life, stay on the bench until         
retirement. The move especially shocked the conservative legal community, in     
which Luttig maintained a high profile and was something of a superstar. In his   
resignation letter, Luttig wrote "Boeing may well be the only company in America 
for which I would have ever considered leaving the court." He also mentioned     
his two children's upcoming college education. The position at Boeing promised   
more pay than the federal judgeship. At the time of his resignation, federal     
appellate judges were paid $175,100 annually.