If they devoted themselves to him for a year, he would tell them, “I’ll devote myself to you for the rest of your career.”

Almost all of his clerks — more than 40 over the years — went onto clerkships at the Supreme Court.

“That was eye-popping to everyone,” says fellow former federal judge, Thomas Griffith, a classmate of Luttig’s at the University of Virginia law school. “For Mike, that was a badge of honor.”

If they devoted themselves to him for a year, he would tell them, “I’ll devote myself to you for the rest of your career.”

Almost all of his clerks — more than 40 over the years — went onto clerkships at the Supreme Court.

“That was eye-popping to everyone,” says fellow former federal judge, Thomas Griffith, a classmate of Luttig’s at the University of Virginia law school. “For Mike, that was a badge of honor.”