Conservative judge who fought election coup endorses SCOTUS nominee Kentaji Brown Jackson

A previous version of this story stated that Judge Michael Luttig supported the January 6th coup. AlterNet has corrected the mistake. We apologize for the error.

A conservative judge who worked to convince ex-Vice President Mike Pence to reject former President Donald Trump's coup to overturn the 2020 election has endorsed President Joe Biden’s nominee for the United States Supreme Court.

In a statement obtained exclusively by CNN, former United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. J. Michael Luttig wrote that Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit “is eminently qualified to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Indeed, she is as highly credentialed and experienced in the law as any nominee in history, having graduated from the Harvard Law School with honors, clerked at the Supreme Court, and served as a Federal Judge for almost a decade.”

If she is confirmed by the Senate, Jackson would become the first Black woman and public defender to serve on the Supreme Court.

In his letter, Luttig admonished members of the GOP who objected to Jackson’s nomination out of partisan spite.

“Republicans prematurely judged President Biden’s nominee when the President first announced he would nominate a Black woman to the vacancy created by Justice [Stephen] Breyer’s retirement. The President knew at the time that there were any number of highly qualified Black women on the lower federal courts from among whom he could choose -- including Judge Jackson -- and Republicans should have known that the President would nominate one of those supremely qualified black women to succeed Justice Breyer,” Luttig said.

“Republicans should vote to confirm Judge Jackson out of political calculation,” Luttig continued, “even if they cannot bring themselves to confirm her out of political magnanimity, and then proudly take the deserved credit for their part in elevating the first Black female jurist to the Supreme Court of the United States.