A conservative former federal judge has slammed Mike Pence for fighting a grand jury subpoena to testify in the Justice Department probe into Donald Trump s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

In a New York Times essay published Friday, J. Michael Luttig warned that the former vice president whom he had advised in January 2021 about rejecting Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election result was playing a dangerous game by threatening to challenge the subpoena all the way to the Supreme Court.

The choice could seriously backfire on Pence politically, suggested the George H.W. Bush-appointed judge.

The former vice president should not want the embarrassing spectacle of the Supreme Court compelling him to appear before a grand jury in Washington just when hes starting his campaign for the presidency, he wrote.

Pence, whos said hell likely decide on a 2024 presidential run by the spring, is considered by many of us across the political spectrum to be a profile in courage for choosing democracy over his former boss, said Luttig.

But Pences branding of the perfectly legitimate subpoena as unconstitutional is a far cry from the constitutionally hallowed ground on which he stood on Jan. 6, Luttig added.

The federal courts will make short shrift of this Hail Mary claim, he cautioned, adding that Pence doesnt have a chance in the world of winning his case.

Luttig advised Pence not to let this dangerous tactic play out for long.

If he does, it will be more than he wished for, he concluded.

Read the full essay here.