“Assault on the Rule of Law”: Why a Massachusetts Judge Appointed for Life Resigned after 40 Years

Judge Mark Wolf speaking at the Global Hemispheric Conference on Anti-Corruption. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. 

On Friday, November 7, senior status Federal Judge Mark L. Wolf resigned from the bench after over 40 years of service. Judge Wolf was appointed a Federal District Judge for Massachusetts in 1985 by then-President Ronald Reagan. Wolf left  his  lifetime appointment, which he had initially  planned to fulfill until retirement age, stating in an opinion piece that President Donald Trump’s use of the law for “targeting adversaries while sparing his friends and donors…is contrary to everything that I have stood for,” and that he “no longer can bear to be restrained by what judges can say publicly or do outside the courtroom.” Wolf has relinquished his storied career as a protest against the “muzzle” that he feels President Trump has forced upon judges across the nation. 

Judge Wolf is no stranger to cases involving bribery and corruption. In an essay posted on The Atlantic by Judge Wolf following his resignation, he mentions past cases, including the prosecution of Boston mobsters James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen Flemmi. Judge Wolf wrote a 661-page decision detailing how the two were FBI informants and how these agents were involved in misconduct, including murders committed by Bulger and Flemmi. Judge Wolf’s involvement in the case led to important hearings in Congress about the relationship between the FBI and informants, resulting in  the federal government paying families of victims  murdered by informants nearly $100 million in claims.

These past experiences with high-profile cases are in part what prompted his resignation, stating in the Atlantic that he decided all of his cases based on “the facts and the law…without fear or favor,” which he feels is “the opposite of what is happening now.”Judge Wolf references a series of accusations against President Trump, such as  examples of the President's involvement in bribery and manipulation of  government policies to take advantage of illegal or questionable opportunities. Judge Wolf mentions the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, which has been reduced from over thirty attorneys to just five. Wolf  also mentions that when President Trump launched his own cryptocurrency, $TRUMP, the Department of Justice’s cryptocurrency enforcement unit was disbanded. “As a prosecutor and judge, I dealt seriously with the unlawful influence of money on official decisions”, Judge Wolf says, “Trump and his administration evidently do not share this approach”. 

Judge Wolf’s decision to officially retire allows  him to speak more freely against the administration. Federal judges are limited by the Code of Conduct, which are a series of  ethical guidelines for them to follow. It requires judges to “avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities,” or avoid language and comments that could erode public trust in the judicial branch. In October, The New York Times spoke anonymously with 65 federal judges through a questionnaire, 45 of which agreed with the statement that  “the Supreme Court had been mishandling its emergency docket since Mr. Trump returned to office.” Since then, Republican leaders in the Senate and House Judiciary Committees have called for an investigation into which judges responded to the  survey, claiming they could have “violated their ethics obligations”, highlighting  the political scrutiny federal judges face when they speak candidly about their opinions. In an interview with the New York Times, Judge Wolf explained how 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.”

Judge Wolf has served in the District Court of Massachusetts for over four decades, speaking around the world on topics of democracy, human rights, and anti-corruption during his tenure. He has also taught courses at law schools such as Harvard and Boston College on the role of a judge in American democracy. While his official work as a senior-status federal judge may be over, Judge Wolf now plans to join a group of former federal judges who he says are “dedicated to protecting the rule of law and American democracy”. 

Judge Wolf’s seat as the Massachusetts District Court judge is now filled by Judge Indira Talwani, who was appointed in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama following Judge Wolf’s shift from active service to a senior-status judge. 

Quoting Nobel Laureate Seamus Henry, Judge Wolf ends his essay saying, “the ‘longed-for tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme.’ I want to do all that I can to make this such a time”.