Federal judge gives up life term to denounce Trump

A federal judge appointed by former President Ronald Reagan announced in an op-ed published Sunday that he has resigned from his post, giving up his lifetime tenure to denounce President Donald Trump, whom he sees as eroding judicial independence and using the law to reward his allies and punish his opponents.

Mark Wolf, who was appointed by Reagan in 1985, said in The Atlantic that he looked forward to serving on the bench for the rest of his life, but felt compelled to resign.

“My reason is simple: I can no longer stand being limited by what judges can say publicly or do outside of the courtroom. President Donald Trump uses the law for partisan purposes, targeting his opponents while sparing his friends and donors from investigation, prosecution and possible punishment.” he wrote.

“This is contrary to everything I have stood for in my more than 50 years at the Justice Department and on the bench. The White House’s attack on the rule of law disturbs me so deeply that I feel compelled to speak out. Silence, for me, is now intolerable.”

Senior Judge Mark L. Wolf of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts listens to opening statements during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on federal judicial ethics at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, May 17, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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The former federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said he began his public service career at the Justice Department in 1974, several years after the Watergate scandal.

Wolf served under former President Gerald Ford’s attorney general, Edward Levi, who he said helped shape his views on what it means to uphold the rule of law and seek justice in a nonpartisan way.

“I have decided all my cases based on the facts and the law, without regard to politics, popularity or my personal preferences. This is how justice is supposed to be administered: equally to everyone, without fear or favor. This is the opposite of what is happening now,” he wrote.

Attorney General-designate Edward Levi, right, visits outgoing Attorney General William Saxbe at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC (Bettmann / Contributor/Getty Images)

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Wolf’s successor was selected and appointed after becoming a senior judge in 2013, and the seat was officially filled by Justice Indira Talwani in 2014.

“I hope to be a spokesperson for embattled judges who, under the code of conduct, feel they cannot speak frankly to the American people,” he told the New York Times.

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White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Fox News Digital that judges who “want to inject their own personal agenda into the law have no place on the bench.”

“Here’s the reality: With more than 20 Supreme Court victories, the Trump administration’s policies have consistently been upheld by the Supreme Court as legal despite an unprecedented number of legal challenges and illegal rulings from lower courts,” Jackson said. “And any other radical judge who wants to complain to the press should at least have the decency to resign before doing so.”