5.12.2006
Judge Luttig Flies to Boeing
So busy reporting on all the exciting non-news and dazzling continuing lack of developments on the ULA deal (ho-hum), I almost neglected to post this item, which actually is news.When's the last time we heard of an appellate judge resigning his or her lifetime seat on the federal bench to go inhouse at a Fortune 500 company?
Judge Michael Luttig of the conservative Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, whose name is familiar from, among other things, that ever-handy short list of potential nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as his quite noteworthy opinion in the Padilla case, in which he rebuffed the administration, never got that call from President Bush. But he got one from Boeing.
Judge Luttig will be the next senior vice president and general counsel at Boeing. (Link via Instapundit.) The challenge was irresistible. There's always plenty of high-level work for a talented lawyer at Boeing; and lately, it seems, there's more than ever.
And no doubt a cool few million dollars more in annual compensation over a judge's salary goes a long way to convince a jurist, especially one with two college bound kids, to cross over to the lucrative side of law practice.
In fact, you might wonder why thing sort of thing doesn't happen on the legal stage every day.
Here's the judge's letter of resignation to President Bush. He writes, "Boeing may well be the only company in America for which I would have ever considered leaving the court."
No hard feelings on the part of the judicial branch, then? As Boeing says, "Forever New Frontiers." And these days, what giant aerospace company couldn't use a good judge? ;)
