JUDGE John Michael Luttig is known for his career as the former United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia.
In June 2022, the former judge made headlines after speaking out against former President Donald Trump at the January 6 committee hearings.
Who is Judge John Michael Luttig?
Born June 13, 1954, Luttig, 68, is known as an American lawyer and former United States Circuit Judge.
After graduating University of Virginia School of Law, Luttig went on to serve as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice Warren Burger before serving as the assistant counsel at the White House from 1981 to 1982 under former president Ronald Reagan, according to Forbes.
In 1991, he was then appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by President George H.W. Bush, a position he held until his retirement in 2006.
Read More on The US Sun
What did Judge John Michael Luttig say about Donald Trump?
In June 2022, Luttig testified at the January 6 committee hearing.
Just hours prior, he wrote a statement on The Bulwark, saying: “A stake was driven through the heart of American democracy on January 6, 2021, and our democracy today is on a knife’s edge.
“America was at war on that fateful day, but not against a foreign power. She was at war against herself. We Americans were at war with each other – over our democracy.”
more from politics
During the hearing, he was then asked by Bennie Thompson of Mississippi to elaborate on what he meant when he called Trump a "clear and present danger to American democracy."
"Almost two years after that fateful day … Donald Trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present danger to American democracy," Littig said, via The Guardian.
“That’s not because of what happened on January 6. It is because to this very day the former president and his allies and supporters pledge that in the presidential election of 2024, if the former president or his anointed successor as the Republican party presidential candidate were to lose that election, they would attempt to overturn that 2024 election in the same way that they attempted to overturn the 2020 election, but succeed in 2024 where they failed in 2020.”
As a result of the Capitol riots, Trump was impeached for a second time, but he was acquitted of inciting an insurrection.
"I don’t speak those words lightly," Luttig continued.
"I would have never spoken those words ever in my life. Except that’s what the former president and his allies are telling us … the former president and his allies are executing that blueprint for 2024 in the open, in plain view of the American public.
"I repeat, I would have never uttered one single one of those words unless the former president and his allies were candidly and proudly speaking those exact words to America.”
At this time, it still remains unclear if Trump will run for re-election in 2024.
Is John Michael Luttig married?
Despite a high-profile career, Luttig tends to keep his personal life out of the media.
Read More On The Sun
As of June 2022, he is married to Elizabeth Ann Luttig, though information about her personal life and occupation remains unclear.
The couple shares two children who also tend to stay out of the spotlight.
