Prominent conservative federal judge Mark L. Wolf stepped down from his position November 7 after more than 50 years of service on the bench and at the Department of Justice, so he could publicly to warn Americans about the “uniquely dangerous” threat Donald Trump poses to the rule of law and American democracy. Judge Wolf, a Ronald Reagan appointee, sat on the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Judge Wolf wrote a public resignation letter that was published in The Atlantic, in which he said was resigning so he could speak out publicly against President’s Trump’s “assault on the rule of law.” Wolf said he resigned not just to finally be able to express his own views, but 
to also speak for the other judges still on the bench who cannot speak out for themselves.
Judge Wolf told PBS’s Amna Nawaz in an interview on November 11 that the crucial American ideal of equal justice under the law — the tenet that sets the U.S. apart from other countries — is being violated by Trump and his administration.
Wolf said,
“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.”
He added,
“This president repeatedly, overtly directs the Department of Justice to prosecute his perceive political enemies at the same time that the Department of Justice is not investigating possible corruption by people close to the President and people that are doing things to profit the President and his family. This is inconsistent with the fundamental principle of equal justice under the law, to which I’ve dedicated by professional life for 50 years, and it’s personal to me. It’s deeply disturbing.”
Judge Wolf said he could not bear to keep silent any longer, and that his concerns about Trump are “widely held by judges.” He said whenever federal judges rule against Trump and he calls the judges “crooked,” that it’s disturbing to judges to be called crooked and not be allowed to answer. They can only continue to do the best job they can and remain as impartial as they can. But Wolf said the President’s “vitriolic comments have coincided with threats of harm, death threats among others, to federal judges,” and that judges are “genuinely concerned about that, and the concern for their families and the anxiety this is causing their families.”
Nawaz asked Judge Wolf what is at stake.
Wolf replied that it appears the President is not obeying many court orders, and if the President doesn’t obey court orders, then he has unlimited power. He said “Courts don’t have armies to enforce their orders.” “Barring enforcement,” he adds, “we are living in an autocracy.”