In my recent conversation with Judge Luttig, we covered a great deal of legal news that’s worth flagging:
Luttig on the Supreme Court’s use of the so-called shadow docket:
“The Supreme Court, in taking these cases that it has, is accommodating Donald Trump in a way that it would never accommodate any other person or litigant.”
Luttig on Trump’s attacks on Harvard:
“When Harvard first refused to bow before Donald Trump, the next thing he said is that I'll withdraw your tax-exempt status under Section 501c3. Well, not only does the president have no authority to do that, when he said that he was in violation of a federal statute that specifically prevents the president of the United States from even suggesting an IRS audit for purposes of rescinding the exemption from any organization. That statute…is punishable by a fine and imprisonment.”
Luttig on Trump’s tariffs:
“[He] said that he was invoking the [International Emergency Economic Powers Act], on the basis of the emergency that existed by the trade deficits. Well, that's laughable, okay? We will always have trade deficits. … This goes back and forth like a seesaw and always will. There's no one in the world who thinks that that's an emergency. … And that's what the International Court held.”
We got deep into the weeds on all of these legal issues and several more.
But I wanted to highlight Luttig’s fiery response when we discussed the Republican Party — his longtime home — and how it has failed to express any concern about Trump’s actions:
The Republican Party and almost every Republican official in the country has sold their soul to the devil. They literally have acted and so conducted themselves as if they had no morals, no convictions, no principles, no beliefs whatsoever. And especially none of those in America itself and in our past and our future. It’s as if they are vessels for the corruption of America that’s occurred over the past few years.
You can watch the entire interview on Substack or YouTube or download it as a podcast.
If you appreciate these conversations, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to Telos News. Thanks!
Share this post