Exclusive: Conservative Republican endorses Harris, calls Trump a threat
to democracy

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/19/politics/conservative-republican-endorses-
harris-calls-trump-a-threat-to-democracy/index.html

Retired federal appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig, a prominent
conservative legal scholar put on the bench by President George H.W.
Bush, is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris over former President
Donald Trump, whose candidacy he describes as an existential threat to
American democracy.

It will be the first time Luttig, a veteran of two Republican
administrations, has voted for a Democrat.

�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,� Luttig wrote in a statement obtained exclusively by CNN.
�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.�

Luttig played a now famous role in persuading then-Vice President Mike
Pence to defy Trump and certify the 2020 presidential election. In a
series of tweets drafted at the request of Pence�s attorney, Luttig
spelled out in stark terms the legal rationale for Pence to reject the
former president�s attempt to overturn Joe Biden�s victory.

Since then, Luttig has emerged as a preeminent constitutional critic of
Trump. In endorsing Harris, Luttig argues that partisan distinctions
must, in this election, be set aside in order to prevent the �singularly
unfit� Trump from returning to the White House.

�In voting for Vice President Harris, I assume that her public policy
views are vastly different from my own,� Luttig writes, �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.�