More Luttig

Interesting WSJ article about Luttig’s resignation, which seems vaguely consistent with Julia‘s “he was more principled reactionary than Republican hack” (unlike, say, the conservatives on the Supreme Court) theory:

Judge Luttig, according to a person familiar with the court proceedings, put his own credibility on the line, drawing on his own experience in national-security law and confidence in Bush administration officials he knew. He argued to his colleagues that the government wouldn’t have sought such extraordinary powers unless absolutely necessary, this person says.

Then, in November, the administration suddenly announced that it didn’t consider Mr. Padilla an enemy combatant any more and would charge him in a regular federal court. The move came just two days before the government’s deadline to submit briefs to the Supreme Court, which was weighing an appeal of the Fourth Circuit’s September decision.

A person familiar with the judge’s thinking says it’s evident he felt the government had pulled “the carpet out from under him.” In an interview yesterday, Judge Luttig said, “I thought that it was appropriate that the Supreme Court would have the final review of the case.”

Attorney General Gonzales offered no explanation for the move, but critics accused the government of gaming the court system. By making the Supreme Court appeal moot, the government could avoid a possible reversal at the nation’s highest court while preserving the favorable Fourth Circuit ruling.

Instead of granting what the government considered a pro forma request to transfer Mr. Padilla to civilian custody, Judge Luttig ordered the parties to submit arguments over the question. On Dec. 21, Judge Luttig delivered a judicial bombshell: a carefully worded order refusing to move Mr. Padilla until the Supreme Court decided what to do. The order all but accused the Bush administration of misconduct.

“The government’s abrupt change in course” appeared designed “to avoid consideration of our decision by the Supreme Court,” Judge Luttig wrote. The government’s actions suggested that “Padilla may have been held for these years…by mistake” and, even worse, that the government’s legal positions “can, in the end, yield to expediency.” Such tactics, Judge Luttig warned, could exact a “substantial cost to the government’s credibility before the courts.”

The rest of the article is worth reading for those unfamiliar with the Bush administration’s cynical venue-shopping, which it lays out in lucid detail.