Heather Cox Richardson June 18th newsletter - Luttig and Texas Republicans
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-18-2022
Of all we have heard at the hearings of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, Judge J. Michael Luttigs testimony on Thursday stands out. Luttig is a leading conservative thinker, a giant in Republican legal circles, who worked in the Reagan administration, was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to a federal judgeship, and was on the short-list for a Supreme Court seat during President George W. Bushs term. In January 2021, thenvice president Mike Pences staff turned to him for support to make sure Pence didnt agree to count out electors; Luttig opposed the scheme absolutely.
Luttigs words carry weight among Republican lawmakers.
On Thursday, Judge Luttig examined the ongoing danger to democracy and located it not just on former president Donald Trump and his enablers, but on the entire Republican Party of today, the party that embraces the Big Lie that Trump won the 2020 election, the party that continues to plan to overturn any election in which voters choose a Democrat.
[T]he former president and his party are today a clear and present danger for American democracy, Luttig reiterated to NPRs All Things Considered.
And, as if in confirmation, delegates to a convention of the Texas Republican Party today approved platform planks rejecting the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and [holding] that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States; requiring students to learn about the dignity of the preborn human, including that life begins at fertilization; treating homosexuality as an abnormal lifestyle choice; locking the number of Supreme Court justices at 9; getting rid of the constitutional power to levy income taxes; abolishing the Federal Reserve; rejecting the Equal Rights Amendment; returning Christianity to schools and government; ending all gun safety measures; abolishing the Department of Education; arming teachers; requiring colleges to teach free-market liberty principles; defending capital punishment; dictating the ways in which the events at the Alamo are remembered; protecting Confederate monuments; ending gay marriage; withdrawing from the United Nations and the World Health Organization; and calling for a vote for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.
*snip*