He was just 37 years old when the first president Bush tapped him for the bench, the youngest federal appeals judge in the country, but already a veteran of the political world. His specialty: screening and prepping the Supreme Court nominees of Republican presidents. His home served as the “safe-house” lodging for future justice David Souter, the night before Bush interviewed him for the job in 1990. After Clarence Thomas’s 1991 nomination was imperiled by sexual harassment allegations, Luttig was urgently summoned from a Hawaii vacation to help. His involvement was criticized by some legal ethicists because Luttig, though not yet sworn in, had already been confirmed as a judge.