A longtime federal judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan has rage-quit with an anti-Trump meltdown after four decades on the bench.
Former U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf used his resignation to launch a political broadside at President Donald Trump.
Wolf, 78, abruptly resigned his lifetime appointment on Friday.
He then authored an op-ed in The Atlantic on Sunday, accusing Trump of undermining the judiciary and misusing the Department of Justice.
Wolf, who referenced Trump 30 times in his essay, claimed he was “relinquishing” his post because “the Trump administration’s assault on the rule of law is so deeply disturbing to me that I feel compelled to speak out.”
The former senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts argued that Trump “is using the law for partisan purposes, targeting his adversaries while sparing his friends and donors from investigation, prosecution, and possible punishment.”
Wolf wrote that he had grown “deeply uncomfortable” with judicial ethics rules restricting political commentary.
“As I watched in dismay and disgust from my position on the bench, I came to feel deeply uncomfortable operating under the necessary ethical rules that muzzle judges’ public statements and restrict their activities,” he wrote.
“Day after day, I observed in silence as President Trump, his aides, and his allies dismantled so much of what I dedicated my life to.”
Wolf compared Trump to Richard Nixon, claiming that “What Nixon did episodically and covertly, knowing it was illegal or improper, Trump now does routinely and overtly.
“Prosecutorial decisions during this administration are a prime example.”
Democrats have alleged that Trump’s DOJ acted politically in its prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Trump has countered that Biden’s DOJ spent years targeting him with politically motivated indictments.
Wolf also accused Trump of undermining internal watchdogs and heightening tensions around the judiciary.
“Trump is also dismantling the offices that could and should investigate possible corruption by him and those in his orbit,” Wolf wrote.
“Trump’s angry attacks on the courts have coincided with an unprecedented number of serious threats against judges.
“There were nearly 200 from March to late May 2025 alone.”
Following his resignation, Wolf told The New York Times he hopes “to be a spokesperson for embattled judges who, consistent with the code of conduct, feel they cannot speak candidly to the American people.”
Conservative attorney Mike Davis fired back, calling Wolf an activist masquerading as a neutral jurist.
“If Trump is so lawless, why has he won over 80% of his petitions to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket this year?” Davis asked in a post on X.
He noted that although Wolf was appointed by Reagan, the judge had long been backed by Democrat Sens. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.
1. Good riddance, Mark.
2. Mark is deceiving everyone by pretending he’s a Reagan Republican. Mark was hand-selected by both of his Massachusetts Democrat home-state senators.
3. Mark knows both of his Massachusetts Democrat home-state senators will keep open his vacancy until… https://t.co/KPOQhuz2yh
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) November 9, 2025
While Trump now has the authority to nominate Wolf’s replacement, Davis emphasized that either of Massachusetts’s Democrat senators, Elizabeth Warren or Ed Markey, could block the nominee using the Senate’s traditional “blue-slip” privilege.
READ MORE – Judge Overseeing James Comey Indictment Openly Attacks Trump’s DOJ
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