Judge J. Michael Luttig, perennial Supreme Court short-lister and feeder judge extraordinaire, is stepping down from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He's heading off to become vice president and general counsel of Boeing. KA-CHING!
Details here (Legal Times) and here (Washington Post). WOW!!!
Article III Groupie's guess as to Judge Luttig's thinking: "Since it's looking increasingly unlikely that I'll get a Supreme Court nomination anytime soon, I'm packing up my toys and going home. Hasta luego!"
(Of course, Judge Luttig could still get nominated to the SCOTUS from Boeing; but it would be much less likely.)
The text of Judge Luttig's resignation letter to President Bush -- which has a paean to Boeing that sounds like it was ripped straight out of the company's annual report -- is available here (pdf; via Law Blog). Here's an excerpt:
The Boeing Company is an American icon. There is just something larger than life about the company. From the global travel it enables through its commercial aircraft, to the contributions that it makes to our military preparedness and space exploration, its work and its products completely capture the imagination.
And earnings-per-share for the first quarter of 2006 increased 33 percent, to $0.88 per share, while net income increased 29 percent, to $692 million...
Inquiring minds want to know: What will happen to his current clerks? And what about the ones he's hired for the coming judicial year?
A3G's guess: the current Luttigators don't have that much time before they have to report for the start of October Term 2006 -- maybe just a few weeks. So they can just take a nice little vacation, basking in the glory of their imminent apotheosis to the Court, and resting up for the rigors of life at One First Street.
As for the hired-but-not-yet-started Luttig clerks, who will never get to call themselves "Luttigators," they'll probably have to scramble for new jobs. But given their credentials and brilliance, it shouldn't be too hard for them to find gainful employment. (A3G would be happy to hire one of them as her intern.)
If you're in a position to provide more detail on the Luttig resignation, in addition to what appears in news accounts and Judge Luttig's letter, please email A3G. Comments from Luttigators -- many of whom are UTR readers and sources -- are especially welcome.
More to come -- as Drudge likes to say, "developing..."
Boeing is a big company, and Luttig will be a big player there, but when it comes down to it his ego won't be stroked nearly as much as when he was a sitting judge.
If not for the money, why head to securities law, sarbanes-oxley, "did we file out 10K on time" of the corporate world? My bet is that he hates it.
Posted by: Will | May 11, 2006 at 02:45 PM
Talked to one hired-but-not-yet-started Luttig clerk this morning (May 11th). Seems that the Judge has yet to call them about it.
Posted by: | May 11, 2006 at 01:43 PM
The article on the frontpage of the WSJ this morning is a *Must-Read*
Posted by: Goldie | May 11, 2006 at 10:20 AM
I agree that he probably took this opportunity because he realized no promotion was coming. On the other hand, this may be a brilliant way to be nominated to the Supreme Court. During the time nominations were being mulled, we heard a fair bit about lack of diversity of experience in the Supreme Court candidate pool; perhaps a corporate General Counsel is just the type of diverse experience that would make it easier to nominate him in the future.
Posted by: TLSFederalist | May 10, 2006 at 08:34 PM
"That's Democratic thinking."
Yeah because everyone knows that almost no Dems work in the private sector and the ones that do hate themselves. Please.
Posted by: default | May 10, 2006 at 07:46 PM
Don't think this is about the money. Money has never been what gets Luttig out of bed in the morning. Besides that, Luttig's family has plenty of money; while he might want to write the check personally, his kids would be provided for even if he became a sadhu, complete with the ash smeared face and the wild matted hair.
I think it's about the challenge. He's never much practiced private law, and certainly not at this level. He gets to move from the rarified atmosphere of working with a cozy team reading briefs that address crisply defined questions presented, and move to a situation where he has manage a large staff that has to anticipate legal challenges involving facts that no one wants to talk about and involving law that may not have gelled. He's had fifteen years experience (really, much more, counting his own background as a clerk and Supreme Court employee) to master the job of federal judge; he's got about five minutes to master the job of general counsel, without the benefit of having ever been the principal outside advisor to a corporation or a member of an inhouse legal team. It's going to be an exhilarating ride.
As a Republican, I doubt that he is going to lie awake at night fretting that he has moved into the productive sector and dropped off the public teat. That's Democratic thinking. He understands that those who work for a living in the private sector help make this country great, and that there is in fact no negative correlation between how much you make and how much you contribute (hard as that is for journalists, academics and government bureacrats to understand).
If he does well, the sky is the limit for him in the private sector. If he steers Boeing through its pending legal challenges, why should not he not be considered for the CEO job at a company trying to recover from scandal? Or, just maybe, he could run for elected, not appointed, office.
Posted by: Anon | May 10, 2006 at 06:44 PM
Seems like their best bet would be to go what looks to be a Luttig mini-me: Brett Kavanugh, assuming he is confirmed.
Posted by: | May 10, 2006 at 03:28 PM