Ruth Marcus
@ruthmarcus.bsky.social
Washington Post columnist, mom of two grown women and one adorable Bernedoodle stuck in mischievous adolescence. Knitting, cooking, hiking, Wyoming.
We all knew the moment would come in the second Trump term when he got his way and used the DOJ to pursue foes. But it fees like a gut punch nonetheless. The Flimsy, Dangerous Indictment of James Comey www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
The Flimsy, Dangerous Indictment of James Comey
The charges against the former F.B.I. director look weak. But they may be just the start of Donald Trump’s long-threatened drive to use the Justice Department to go after his enemies.
newyorker.com
In Pam Bondi, Donald Trump finally has the attorney general he always wanted. My latest for the New Yorker, www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Pam Bondi’s Power Play
Donald Trump now has the Attorney General he always wanted—an ally willing to harness the law to enable his agenda.
newyorker.com
Erez Reuveni, the Justice Department whistleblower, speaks out. His words are powerful. My latest, www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
Why a Devoted Justice Department Lawyer Became a Whistle-Blower
In the first Trump Administration, “they didn’t say ‘Fuck you’ to the courts,” Erez Reuveni said.
newyorker.com
The federal courts have been doing an impressive job of standing up to Trump. This includes SCOTUS, at times. But not always. See its latest gift to presidential power--conveniently ignoring a 90-year-old precedent. My latest for New Yorker www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
The Supreme Court Undercuts Another Check on Executive Power
In leaping to defend the Trump Administration, the Court conveniently ignored a long-established precedent that prevented Presidents from firing independent-agency heads at will.
newyorker.com
Annals of a judiciary losing its patience--this from the judge overseeing the case of migrants deported to dangerous third countries: "Defendants have mischaracterized this Court’s order, while at the same time manufacturing the very chaos they decry." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
Vance v. Roberts. My latest from New Yorker, about the vice president's wrongheaded claim that the federal courts are frustrating the will of the voters--and that the chief justice should intervene.
J. D. Vance Warns Courts to Get in Line
The Vice-President says it’s time for Chief Justice John Roberts to step in and make judges behave. He’s wrong.
newyorker.com
Fact check: No, Secretary Noem. Habeas corpus is not a constitutional right the president has to remove people from the country. It is a right the people have to combar the arbitrary use of executive power. I have a handy explanation for you here. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
The Astonishing Threat to Suspend Habeas Corpus
The Trump Administration is stepping up its war on the rule of law. Is this bluster aimed at intimidating judges, or the start of something worse?
newyorker.com
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last yr.HASSAN: What is habeas corpus? NOEM: Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country HASSAN: That's incorrect
My take on the surprising and at least somewhat cheering oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case. The skeptical reception some justices gave to SG John Sauer was, I think, evidence that the Trump administration's aggressiveness may be costing it in court. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
The Stakes of the Birthright-Citizenship Case
The Trump Administration is trying to use the case to stop lower-court judges from issuing “nationwide injunctions” against its unconstitutional executive orders.
newyorker.com
Who’s weaponizing now? Taking career prosecutors out of the equation and leaving it to Trump-installed US Attorneys is yet another dangerous move. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Trump Justice Dept. considers removing key check on lawmaker prosecutions
The Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section is charged with ensuring cases against elected officials are not politically motivated. The Trump administration is considering changing that.
washingtonpost.com
The right to go to court to protest unlawful detention--habeas corpus--is, SCOTUS has said, “the fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless state action.” Trump is "actively considering" suspending it. My latest, www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
The Astonishing Threat to Suspend Habeas Corpus
The Trump Administration is stepping up its war on the rule of law. Is this bluster aimed at intimidating judges, or the start of something worse?
newyorker.com
Rest in peace, Justice David Souter. He was a remarkable and welcome surprise on the bench--touted (by WHCOS John Sununu) as a "home run for conservatives," he turned out to be a solid liberal who kept the court from lurching to the right for many years. Thank you, Justice Souter.
my latest for the New Yorker, on the incredible shrinking Establishment Clause. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
Is This the End of the Separation of Church and State?
The Justices, who have steadily eroded prohibitions on government sponsorship of religious schools, now seem ready to end them entirely.
newyorker.com
When it figured Donald Trump was coming for it, WilmerHale had a "Better Call Paul" moment. www.newyorker.com/news/persons...
The Conservative Lawyer Defending a Firm from Donald Trump
Paul Clement complained that Big Law was becoming “increasingly woke.” Now he’s defending one firm’s right to do just that.
newyorker.com
Justice Alito's dissent is out in the Alien Enemies Act deportation case, joined by Justice Thomas. His issues with the court's "unprecedented and legally questionable relief" are technical, but I am struck by his reliance on government lawyer's assertion that no flights were planned for Fri or Sat.
Thank God for the Supeme Court—a sentence I rarely write these days. Every day the administration’s defiance becomes more breathtaking and more blatant. Yesterday it was poised to violate a Supreme Coirt ruling that required it to provide due process to alleged Venezuelan gang members before…
Please sign up for New Yorker Daily to read rest: "We’re past the point of wondering whether the Administration will violate court orders... The pressing question is how forcefully judges will respond—and whether the Supreme Court will back them up. Developments this week bode well... "
The AmLaw 100 numbers for Big Law are out. No 1: Kirkland & Ellis, profits per partner $9.2 million, up 16%. You think they could have afforded to stand up to Donald Trump? (Spoiler: they caved, preemptively). No. 2: Latham & Watkins: ppp $7 million, up 23%. (Also caved.)
The people of Iowa--the American people--understand the danger posed by a government that illegally snatches people off the streets and sends them to a foreign prison without any court review. If it could happen to Kilmar Abrego Garcia it could happen to you. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/u...
Grassley Draws Jeers From Constituents at Raucous Town Hall
The Iowa Republican was pressed on President Trump’s policies, including the case of a Salvadoran immigrant who his administration has admitted it mistakenly sent to a prison in El Salvador.
nytimes.com
Will the Supreme Court let Trump play it for a fool? My latest for the New Yorker on the administration’s defiance, and the threat of judicial ostriches. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
Will the Supreme Court Stop Donald Trump?
By defying the Justices’ ruling on a man mistakenly sent to El Salvador, the Administration has shown that it is not owed the deference typically shown to the executive branch.
newyorker.com
Has Trump’s Legal Strategy Backfired? Treating federal judges like junior associates at law firms, ignoring court orders, making preposterous legal arguments—these may win with the base, but in court? Not so much. My latest, for New Yorker
HLS prof, Bush 43 DOJ alum Jack Goldsmith calls Ed Martin, Trump's nominee to be US Atty for DC, "the most openly politicizing and weaponizing figure in the most politicized and weaponizing department in our history." executivefunctions.substack.com/p/the-senate...
The Senate and the Edward Martin Nomination
The case for non-confirmation
executivefunctions.substack.com
Judge Ho agreed to dismiss the Eric Adams prosecution, but he also laid into the DOJ rationale for doing so. He said there was "no evidence--zero" prosecutors had "improper motives" in bringing the case. He said the idea that the case was brought too close to an election "lacks any support."
Anyone who believes that the Trump administration had a serious basis for believing that all the Venezuelans it sent to El Salvador were gang members should read this horrifying story by Jonathan Blitzer in the New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...
The Makeup Artist Donald Trump Deported Under the Alien Enemies Act
The President has invoked the law to send Venezuelans to prison in El Salvador without due process—and, in many cases, under false pretenses.
newyorker.com
I'm glad Susan Crawford won the Wisconsin Supreme Court race and glad Elon Musk didn't succeed in buying the seat. But no one should feel good about a state supreme court race that cost $100 million. (Musk spent $25 million.) That's obscene.
Colin Powell used the Pottery Barn rule--if you break it you own it. This adminstration breaks everything and owns nothing. It admits has wrongfully deported a Salvadoran man and claims it cannot get him back. Is the United States, is President Trump, so powerless?
This is beyond horrifying. The U.S. government admits it improprly deported an El Salvadoran man who fled gang violence there. It now says it can't secure his return to U.S., where he has a wife and children. What kind of country are we living in? www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Trump administration says it mistakenly deported Salvadoran migrant
The government blamed “an administrative error” for the accidental deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant married to a U.S. citizen. Officials claim they’re unable to return him t...
washingtonpost.com
Lawyers, Big Law firms--you have a choice. Will you be Paul Weiss and Skadden, or will you be Jenner and WilmerHale. Appease Trump or fight his flagrantly unconstitutional orders. Partners, what will you tell your children?
I wrote this for the New Yorker about Donald Trump’s reign of terror against Big Law. Now he has gone after WilmerHale. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
How Donald Trump Throttled Big Law
The President has two goals: to seek revenge and to intimidate lawyers challenging his agenda. Is a top firm’s deal with him a necessary act of survival or a damaging blow to the entire profession?
newyorker.com
WilmerHale is the latest target of Trump’s campaign of terror against law firms. He rails about Wilmer partner Bob Mueller, without mentioning that his deputy attorney general asked Mueller to be special counsel.
