Nestled in Douglas County, the last redoubt of Republican power in the Denver metro area, a group composed of disaffected Republicans, independents and conservative Democrats came together for an event hosted by pro-democracy organization Principles First.
Special guest Gov. Jared Polis gave the opening remarks, candidates for Congress and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office spoke and a thriller novelist addressed the crowd. But none were who people paid to see.
Most were there to hear Judge Michael Luttig hold forth.
During the 15 years Luttig served on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, conservative law students sought out clerkships under him like moths to a jurisprudential flame. They knew his tutelage provided a path to U.S. Supreme Court positions. People like Sen. Ted Cruz and former FBI Director Christopher Wray learned from him. So did former CU Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought, and January 6th insurrection protagonist John Eastman.
In time, January 6th indirectly introduced the broader public to Luttig. In the lead-up to that day, he advised then Vice President Mike Pence to stand firm against Eastman’s plans and President Donald Trump’s wishes. Luttig later testified before Congress and lambasted some of his former clerks.
His assessment of the current Trump administration is even more caustic. On Friday, he told the gathered crowd that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi “knows nothing about the law, she only knows what Donald Trump tells her.”
While the Department of Justice traditionally remains independent from White House direction, Bondi does not even feign separation. She has spent the first six months in office purging employees deemed less than utterly loyal to Trump and threatening prosecution of political opponents. Most recently, Bondi found herself at the center of the Epstein Files furor.
When her office announced that there was no Epstein list, it both contradicted statements she made only months before and infuriated the MAGA base. Later admission that she had briefed Trump months before that his name appeared in the files only fueled the fire.
Despite the rotting cancer overtaking the DOJ, Luttig spent most of the evening focused on the broader rule of law and attacks on the judiciary.
Much of what Luttig said came from an eloquent treatise he penned in The Atlantic systematically deconstructing how the Trump administration has attempted to end the rule of law. At the time, Luttig pointed to the arrest of Wisconsin state judge Hannah Dugan as evidence. Luttig succinctly stated, “The arrest and prosecution of judges on such specious charges is where rule of law ends and tyranny begins.”
By Friday he had more examples. The furrows in Luttig’s brow deepened as he spoke about the DOJ misconduct complaint filed against U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington. As Luttig explained, the DOJ targeted Boasberg for his steadfast adherence to the law in opposition to Trump’s desires.
Luttig matched his contempt for that complaint with incredulity at the lawsuit against the 15 federal judges comprising the Maryland bench. In effect, the DOJ wanted to force the court to abandon a standing rule stopping the government from deporting migrants who submitted a habeas petition. Under the court order, the pause would last one day.
The very limited nature of the order made the position of the DOJ clear: it wants the judiciary to bend to Trump’s will.
That is the danger we face, according to Luttig. In the tripartite governance structure created by the country’s founders, he saw little worth in talking about a Congress he described as already “supine” and “subservient.” That left only the judiciary.
In the first half year of the second Trump administration, judges at lower levels have been resolute in upholding their duties. They have refused to countenance illegal executive orders and executive actions. Derided and under threat, they have continued to adhere to the rule of law. That is not an easy task.
It becomes much less so when judges must endure increasing threats of violence even as they must debate whether the federal marshals charged with protecting them owe a greater allegiance to Trump.
Of course the greatest onus falls to the Supreme Court. Luttig did not mince words in his assessment: SCOTUS has been “acquiescing, if not outright approving.”
In particular, Luttig took the court to task for last year’s immunity ruling. By granting Trump nearly unlimited immunity while in office, they invited him to abuse his power and “destroyed the structure of the Constitution.” According to Luttig, the damage done put the decision on par with the most notorious Supreme Court decisions, including “Dred Scott” and “Korematsu.”
Recent actions of the court, including one-line decisions issued without briefing, explanation or reasoning, further evidenced the SCOTUS decline, according to Luttig. As he explained, “the only power SCOTUS has in our system of government is the power of its reasoning.” By abdicating that power, it has undermined the bedrock of our democracy.
Despite the dire warnings, Luttig left his crowd with a ray of hope. Almost 250 years ago our founders drew up a document declaring our independence. On July 4th, Luttig took it upon himself to use it as a guide for 27 truths about freedom — and about tyranny — to guide us during such dark times.
If we make it another 250 years, it will only be because men like Luttig helped keep us on the path.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on BlueSky: @MarioNicolais.bsky.social.
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