Yesterday,
Judge
Mark
L.
Wolf
penned
an
open
letter
in
the
pages
of
The
Atlantic
announcing
his
retirement.
The
Reagan
appointee
has
been
on
the
bench
for
40
years,
28
of
which
were
as
an
active
status
judge
—
in
2013,
he
took
senior
status
—
and
before
that,
he
worked
at
the
Department
of
Justice.
But
Judge
Wolf
is
unable
to
continue
his
life
of
service
for
one
basic
reason:
Donald
Trump.
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.
Judge
Wolf
continues,
noting
Trump
is
an
“existential
threat
to
democracy
and
the
rule
of
law,”
and
“what
Nixon
did
episodically
and
covertly,
knowing
it
was
illegal
or
improper,
Trump
now
does
routinely
and
overtly.”
Soon
after
he
was
inaugurated,
Trump
fired,
possibly
unlawfully,
18
inspectors
general
who
were
responsible
for
detecting
and
deterring
fraud
and
misconduct
in
major
federal
agencies.
The
FBI’s
public-corruption
squad
has
also
been
eliminated.
The
Department
of
Justice’s
public-integrity
section
has
been
eviscerated,
reduced
from
30
lawyers
to
only
five,
and
its
authority
to
investigate
election
fraud
has
been
revoked.
Plus
there’s
Trump’s
about
face
on
crypto
—
just
in
time
for
him
to
launch
his
own
currency.
And
now
that
Trump’s
hawking
$TRUMP,
whaddya
know
—
Trump
disbanded
the
DOJ’s
cryptocurrency-enforcement
unit.
Talk
about
the
“unlawful
influence
of
money
on
official
decisions.”
As
Wolf
notes,
since
he
was
already
on
senior
status,
replaced
on
the
District
of
Massachusetts
by
Obama-appointee
Indira
Talwani,
this
doesn’t
mean
another
vacancy
for
Trump
to
fill.
Which
seems
like
it’s
news
to
at
least
one
ASS
Law
professor.
Wolf
told
the
New
York
Times
he
hopes
to
use
his
time
away
from
the
bench
to
continue
to
speak
out
against
the
Trump
administration’s
erosion
of
constitutional
protections
and
“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.”
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].