Judge Luttig Scorches Justice Roberts and Trump in Exclusive Interview

Conservative legal icon denounces Trump and breaks his silence on his 'disappointment' with his friend, Justice John Roberts, in an exclusive interview on the Legal AF YouTube channel

In a searing Independence Day edition of MeidasTouch’s Legal AF channel series The Court of History, conservative former federal judge J. Michael Luttig joined historians Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz for an extraordinary conversation about the collapse of constitutional government under Donald Trump. Judge Luttig did not hold back in his exclusive appearance on MeidasTouch’s Legal AF YouTube channel.

Declaring that the United States has already lost its republic as of January 2025, Luttig compared Trump’s second term to monarchical tyranny—casting Trump as a modern-day King George III. In his words, Trump has acted “almost verbatim” as a king from day one of his return to office, targeting foundational institutions, violating the rule of law, and deliberately corrupting democracy.

Luttig: But in this instance, the means by which this president has done it are far more aggravated than King George, beginning with the fact that for 250 years we have had an independent judiciary by design and intent of the Declaration and the Constitution of the United States. And you have yet today the president of the United States attempting every single day to delegitimize the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, in the eyes of the American people, and, unfortunately, regrettably, he is succeeding in that thus far.

Luttig, a Reagan-Bush-era legal conservative and former U.S. Court of Appeals judge, has long warned that Trump would rule as a monarch if given a second chance. Now, he says, the prophecy has been fulfilled—and the consequences are existential. “Every single initiative since that first day in office,” Luttig declared, “has been carried out in the exact same style and manner as King George III.”

In a powerful moment, Luttig revealed that he has created a July 4th companion piece aligning each of the 27 grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence against the British crown with contemporary grievances against Trump. The parallels, he says, are “astonishing.”

Luttig also took direct aim at Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump’s chief propagandist Stephen Miller, accusing them of deliberately misrepresenting the law and inciting violence against the judiciary. He condemned his friend Chief Justice John Roberts’ tepid response to mounting attacks on federal judges, warning that the Supreme Court’s inaction has enabled Trump’s campaign of delegitimization and left the federal bench dangerously exposed.

Luttig: There is nothing that John Roberts is not aware of. He knows everything that’s going on. And that’s why I’ve been so disappointed in him. I understand the two issues that plague him. One is the internal workings of the Court itself—and I’ll say no more, but you know what I’m talking about. And then, his unforgivable reticence to speak out directly against the President of the United States—when he knows, and the rest of the world knows that this is the President of the United States It was unforgivable, in my view, for the Chief to continue making these broad, meaningless statements—and to attribute the misconduct to all of us. All of us. The Chief Justice has said, you, the Democrats, are every bit as responsible for this as the Republicans. That’s offensive.

“We are not just in a constitutional crisis,” Luttig said. “America itself is in an existential crisis.”

As the country approaches its 250th anniversary, Luttig urges Americans to reflect—not just on the symbolism of July 4th—but on the Declaration of Independence itself. “Recite the words,” he advised. “Think about what they meant in 1776, and what they mean now. Because we are living them again.”

Watch the full interview on the Legal AF YouTube channel and visit the Legal AF Substack for more exclusive content, filings, and commentary.