Over the course of the year, some of the most pointed and memorable commentary on Donald Trump’s presidency has come not from politicians or pundits, but from judges responding to cases involving the Republican White House.
Judge Mark L. Wolf’s new opinion piece in The Atlantic advances the broader issue in extraordinary ways. The headline reads, “Why I Am Resigning,” and it begins with the Reagan-appointed jurist explaining why he walked away from the judiciary last week, “relinquishing that lifetime appointment and giving up the opportunity for public service that I have loved.” Wolf explained:
My reason is simple: I no longer can bear to be restrained by what judges can say publicly or do outside the courtroom. President Donald Trump is using the law for partisan purposes, targeting his adversaries while sparing his friends and donors from investigation, prosecution, and possible punishment. This is contrary to everything that I have stood for in my more than 50 years in the Department of Justice and on the bench. The White House’s assault on the rule of law is so deeply disturbing to me that I feel compelled to speak out. Silence, for me, is now intolerable.
Wolf, who worked in the Justice Department during the Ford administration before Reagan tapped him for the federal bench, went on to note that others who’ve held positions of authority “have been opposing this government’s efforts to undermine the principled, impartial administration of justice and distort the free and fair functioning of American democracy. They have urged me to work with them. As much as I have treasured being a judge, I can now think of nothing more important than joining them, and doing everything in my power to combat today’s existential threat to democracy and the rule of law.”
The jurist, who will soon turn 79, added, “What Nixon did episodically and covertly, knowing it was illegal or improper, Trump now does routinely and overtly.”
A New York Times report on the piece noted that Wolf wrote “one of the most explicit expressions of concern for the rule of law to come from a member of the federal judiciary amid Mr. Trump’s efforts to vastly expand the scope of presidential power.”
I think that’s correct, though it arguably understates the case: Condemnations like these are historically rare in the American tradition. Plenty of jurists have resigned, but it’s spectacularly uncommon for longtime federal judges to resign because they feel the need to condemn a sitting president and warn the American people about the seriousness of the threat he poses to our system of government.
Wolf told the Times that he resigned not only to speak more freely about his own views, but also on behalf of colleagues who are still on the bench. “I hope to be a spokesperson for embattled judges who, consistent with the code of conduct, feel they cannot speak candidly to the American people,” he said.
I won’t pretend to know how many will take note of the retired judge’s concerns, but his willingness to resign and speak out in unsubtle terms reflects the concerns of a respected jurist who confronts a “break glass in case of emergency” moment.
