Federal Judge, Warning of ‘Existential Threat’ to Democracy, Resigns

The New York Times ^ | Nov. 9, 2025, 4:10 p.m. ET | Mattathias Schwartz

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Judge Mark L. Wolf, writing in The Atlantic, said he was stepping down to defend against the “assault on the rule of law” by President Trump, who he accused of “targeting his adversaries.”

A federal judge warned of an “existential threat to democracy” in a searing first-person essay published on Sunday, saying he had stepped down from the bench to speak out against President Trump. He accused Mr. Trump of “using the law for partisan purposes, targeting his adversaries while sparing his friends and donors from investigation, prosecution, and possible punishment.”

The judge, Mark L. Wolf, wrote in The Atlantic magazine that Mr. Trump’s actions are “contrary to everything that I have stood for in my more than 50 years in the Department of Justice and on the bench.”

The publication of the essay by Judge Wolf, 78, came two days after an announcement by the Federal District Court for Massachusetts that he was leaving his post as a senior-status judge.

An appointee of President Ronald Reagan who also served in the Justice Department during the Ford administration, Judge Wolf offered 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.

His seat on the court was filled by Judge Indira Talwani, a nominee of President Barack Obama, in 2014, after he stepped down from active service to senior status, a form of semi-retirement.

In a phone interview, Judge Wolf said he had resigned not only to speak more freely about his own views, but for colleagues who are still on the bench. “I hope to be a spokesperson for embattled judges who, consistent with the

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[broken_clock]

[lightman]

When you cease to be a good influence...

...it is time to become a GOOD RIDDANCE!

[wastedyears]

I hope he hangs himself.

[Wuli]

A more or less already retired judge.

[A strike]

"Can you say projection? I knew that you could."

[Republican Wildcat]

Let’s get this straight...he’s a Federal Judge - he’s worried about Trump destroying rule of law - so he’s resigning so he no longer is a judge to affect judicial decisions...to allow a vacancy for Trump to fill with a judge of his choosing.

Does not compute...

[DarthVader]

All like him need to resign or be forcibly removed as they are threats to the Constitution and the Republic! All socialist Commies must be obliterated!!

[Brian Griffin]

“using the law for partisan purposes, targeting his adversaries while sparing his friends and donors from investigation, prosecution, and possible punishment.”

Why didn’t the judge resign four years earlier?

[Republican Wildcat]

Oh he was already in “senior status” so his seat was probably already filled.

Still...it’s ridiculous.

[A strike]

also ‘Judge’ Indira Talwani..

[lee martell]

More dire warnings from the judge who cried “WOLF!!”

[Celtic Conservative]

For the last time...

WE ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY!

CC

[Olog-hai]

A democracy is a political system in which the people periodically, by majority vote at the polls, select their rulers. The rulers then have absolute power to make whatever laws they please, by majority vote among themselves.

In a constitutional Republic, the people also, by majority vote at the polls, select rulers, who make laws by majority vote among themselves; but the rulers cannot make any laws they please because the Constitution severely restricts their lawmaking power.

The ideal of a democracy is universal equality. The ideal of a constitutional Republic is individual liberty.

In this century, great strides have been made toward the goal of subverting our Republic and transforming it into a democracy. One tactic of the subverters is subversion of language. By calling the United States a democracy until people thoughtlessly accept and use the term, totalitarians have obscured the real meaning of our principles of government.

— Dan Smoot Report, 1966

Would any “existential threat” to democracy happen to be a boon to the republic? I certainly hope so.

[dennisw]

At age 78 he is retiring with a great pension cushion. He can bleat about Trump this and that, from the couch in his living room.

[Veto!]

Blah, blah, blah. This jerk is too fond of his own “opinions”.

[13foxtrot]

He was a Senior Judge — kind of a Judge Emeritus. His seat was already replaced. He just hung around sitting on cases in here or there, pre-retired if you will.

[metmom]

That’s fine.

We don’t need judges who don’t know we’re not a democracy and that democracies are not about the rule of law but rather mob rule.

Dear God, Please, more. Let more resign. Or remove them from office however You see fit.

[metmom]

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[aquila48]

One down... and many more to go.