(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Conservative former Judge Luttig endorses Harris - first time he will vote for a Democrat [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-08-19  

Today retired federal Judge J. Michael Luttig — a longtime conservative jurist — endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, saying she’s the only major candidate who “can claim the mantle of defender and protector of America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law.”

For a lot of us here on dkos, Luttig may be familiar through his appearances on MSNBC, where he has been a vocal critic of Trump in the past few years. He’s known for playing a key role in helping Mike Pence to push back against Donald Trump and certify the election results on January 6. Still, this will be the first time in his life that Luttig will vote for a Democrat, per CNN, and it is clear from his remarks that January 6 looms large for Luttig in his decision to endorse Harris.

Luttig issued a five-page, single-spaced statement to explain his decision, and he is scathing in his remarks about Donald Trump and the Republican Party. He writes:

In his utterly inexplicable obsession to this very day to deny, attempt to justify, even to glorify January 6, and to bludgeon Americans into believing that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him when he knows it was not, the former president has corrupted America’s Democracy. Yet, to this day — to this day still — not only does the former president, and now the Republican Party of which he is again the standard bearer, continue to falsely claim that the former president won the 2020 election. He and his Party defiantly refuse even to pledge that they will honor and respect the vote and the will of the American People in the upcoming presidential election. In this defiant refusal, the Republican candidate for the presidency and the Republican Party have literally taken America political hostage, threatening the Nation with the specter of another January 6, 2021 on January 6, 2025, if the former president again loses his campaign for the presidency by a vote of the American People.

For Luttig, this year’s election is not about policy differences but about something much bigger. He notes that “the often lofty, at times even noble, policy differences that have been the hallmark of American Politics and partisan debate for almost a quarter of a millennium pale in comparison to the foundational national policy issues of America’s Democracy, Constitution, and Rule of Law.” He declares that American Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law are “the only real stakes” in the upcoming election.

He chastises “the siren calls of the politicians and the political sophists, the mercenaries and the opportunists, who entreat us that the only thing that matters in this presidential election is the candidates’ different positions on the sundry policies of the day,” pretending that this election is the same as all previous elections — “as if nothing had come before,” by which I assume he means January 6 and Trump’s and the GOP’s continued false insistence that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

America’s two political parties are the political guardians of American Democracy. Regrettably, in the presidential election of 2024 there is only one political party and one candidate for the presidency that can claim the mantle of defender and protector of America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law. As a result, I will unhesitatingly vote for the Democratic Party’s candidate for the Presidency of the United States, Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. In voting for Vice President Harris, I assume that her public policy views are vastly different from my own, but I am indifferent in this election as to her policy views on any issues other than America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law, as I believe all Americans should be.

It’s a powerful statement, imho (although it’s clearly written by a longtime jurist!). Please share it with any of your Republican friends or family members who are still on the fence about this year’s election.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/8/19/2264373/-Conservative-former-Judge-Luttig-endorses-Harris-first-time-he-will-vote-for-a-Democrat?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/