Appeals judge to join Boeing as counsel

WASHINGTON — Michael Luttig, the federal appeals-court judge who was on President Bush's short list for the Supreme Court, resigned from the bench Wednesday to become senior vice president and general counsel at Boeing.

In a letter to Bush, Luttig said he was leaving the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals because of the "sheer serendipity" of the chance to work for the nation's largest aerospace company. Kenneth Duberstein, Boeing's lead director and a chief of staff for President Reagan, approached Luttig about a month ago, Luttig said. A former Justice Department official, Luttig worked with Duberstein to win Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Justices David Souter and Clarence Thomas.

He said he and his wife decided "that this is a singular opportunity that we cannot forgo."

"It is the greatest honor of my life to have served as a federal judge for the past 15 years," Luttig wrote.

"For as long as I can remember, it was my dream to serve on the United States Court of Appeals, and the experience has far exceeded even all that I have imagined."

The announcement stunned conservatives who agreed with Luttig's judicial philosophy and others because it is rare for a federal judge to leave a lifetime appointment to the bench. "Much more often, people are moving in the other direction, from private industry or private practice or government jobs to the judiciary," said John Douglass, a law professor at the University of Richmond and an expert on the Richmond-based 4th Circuit.

At Chicago-based Boeing, Luttig, 51, will face a number of legal issues. Boeing is trying to settle Justice Department investigations into the illegal hiring of an Air Force official and its use of a rival's proprietary documents to win a rocket-launch contract.

The hiring probe resulted in guilty pleas in 2004 by Boeing's former chief financial officer, Michael Sears, and Darleen Druyun, a former Air Force procurement official who became vice president in charge of Boeing's missile-defense systems.

The government is expected to announce a settlement of all outstanding legal issues with Boeing within the next few weeks, with a fine on the order of $700 million, according to a lawyer close to the negotiations.

Friends of Luttig said Wednesday that the financial lure of the Boeing job and the greater ability to pay for his children's college education — Luttig has a 14-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old son — were key to his resignation.

Luttig's judicial salary was $171,800. Boeing would not reveal his new compensation, but Frank Menaker Jr., who stepped down last year as general counsel at Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin, earned $760,000 with an $893,500 bonus.

He will succeed Douglas G. Bain, who announced his plans to retire July 1.

Boeing posted on its Web site the judge's resignation letter to President Bush.

He lavishly praised Boeing as "an American icon" and its chief executive Jim McNerney as "one of the most impressive business leaders in America."

"I believe in the mission of Boeing, which reaches far beyond itself," Luttig wrote. "Boeing may well be the only company in America for which I would ever have considered leaving the court."

But the friends added that Luttig's disappointment over the nominations of John Roberts, now the chief justice, and Samuel Alito combined with uncertainty over when another Supreme Court vacancy will occur, also played a role.

In the interview, Luttig said that "no one can or should plan their life around a potential Supreme Court vacancy. This decision had nothing whatsoever to do with the Supreme Court process. It was about my family and my son and daughter."

Luttig was 37 when he was appointed to the 4th Circuit, becoming the youngest federal appeals court judge in the country. The Richmond-based appeals court is widely viewed as the most conservative in the nation.

The Associated Press and Seattle Times reporter Dominic Gates contributed to this report.