Don't Fly Off the Handle, Big Boy

This is an interesting story, Wilbon, and one that legal academics are already blogging over. But before you go all Kobe on the good judge, let's consider this. Luttig, about whom I will admit I went on television and wrongly predicted would get the nomination that went to Roberts, is something of a wunderkind. At 51, he's done a lot more than most lawyers and judges could hope to accomplish in a career. He's an intellectual and it's quite possible he's just looking for a new challenge in life. At that young age, he's been a federal judge for 15 years! Fifteen! Is he really going to sit on the bench for another 20 years and issue more decisions about habeas corpus or the Lanham Act?

OK, now let's take the cynical approach and say the good judge was a little, shall we say, miffed when he was passed over by W in favor of the Orel Hershiser of the federal bench, our new CJ, and a guy who once attended a Phillies' fantasy camp! Notice anything about these two guys, Wilbon? There's no way Luttig is getting on to SCOTUS in our lifetime. Even the Republicans don't have the cojones to put three white males in a row on the Court. And let's consider the money factor. I've got two kids about the same age as Luttig's. And I don't even come close to making what he makes as a judge. Would it be tempting to take on a job that guaranteed that they wouldn't have to borrow $200,000 each just to get a B.A. in basketweaving from Mississippi Valley State? Sure it would.

One last thing. Don't believe for a second that Luttig is done in public life. He'll go to Boeing, sit around and do meetings, and earn enough dough to put into the kids' educational IRAs, and then he'll come back and be, what, the AG or SG under President McCain? Who knows? At that point, he may still be young enough to make another run at the Court.