Ruth Marcus
Washington Post columnist, mom of two grown women and one adorable Bernedoodle stuck in mischievous adolescence. Knitting, cooking, hiking, Wyoming.
- 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...
- 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...
- When it figured Donald Trump was coming for it, WilmerHale had a "Better Call Paul" moment. www.newyorker.com/news/persons...
- The Supreme Court Finally Takes on Trump www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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-...
- 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/...
- 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...
- 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.
- Paul Weiss, I predict, won’t be the last of the Big Law firms to settle with Donald Trump rather than fight his blatantly unconstitutional executive orders. I wrote about what happened for The New Yorker. How Donald Trump Throttled Big Law
- And by the way, defying court orders and going after a judge Boasberg of all people, is not just deranged—it’s bad lawyering. They are hurting their cases, plural, and chances w SCOTUS
- www.newyorker.com/news/the-led... Are we in a constitutional crisis? Sure feels that way. I wrote for The New Yorker, and fixed Karoline Leavitt’s quote for her.
- Thinking today of all the fine journalists at Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and elsewhere who can no longer do their excellent and indispensable work.
- The White House has gone after another leading law firm. This time Paul Weiss. I cannot overstate how dangerous this is—and how urgent for the private bar to respond with solidarity to this assault on the legal profession and rule of law.
- Thanks to everyone for the kind words. Today I am thinking, and seething, about Trumps assault on lawyers, most recently Perkins Coie. We cant have law firms suffering death by executive order; thank goodness for Judge Howell’s temporary restraining order.
- This week I left The Washington Post after 40 years, 6 months and 6 days. Today I have a piece in the New Yorker explaining my heart-breaking decision, and including the column that was spiked. I wish I never had to write it. www.newyorker.com/news/essay/w...
- Can the courts save us? My latest, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
- Laugh or cry? Trump to sign executive order to end promotion of paper straws. I feel better already (not.)
- Taking over Gaza? We are being ruled by a mad king with no appreciation of the complexities of the Mideast or the requirements of international law.
- And another, on Trump's Friday Night Massacre of inspectors general. The summary firings blatantly violate the requirement that he give Congress notice and explain his reasons. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
- Counted them up the other day and I wrote 9 columns in 9 days of Trump 2.0. Going to share some here because they involve issues of continuing importance. Let's start with birthright citizenship, where Trump is bound to lose. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
