Ruth Marcus

Washington, D.C.

Associate editor

Education: Yale College; Harvard Law School

Ruth Marcus is an associate editor and columnist for The Post. Marcus has been with The Post since 1984. She joined the national staff in 1986, covering campaign finance, the Justice Department, the Supreme Court and the White House. From 1999 through 2002, she served as deputy national editor, supervising reporters who covered money and politics, Congress, the Supreme Court and other national issues. She joined the editorial board in 2003 and began writing a regular column in 2006. A graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2
Latest from Ruth Marcus

How 10 minutes on abortion changed the race between Trump and Harris

The debate proved that disappearance of abortion is a reality for women that Donald Trump will never comprehend.

September 11, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the presidential debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)

One urgent reason the justices need a credible ethics code? Ginni Thomas.

And you thought she couldn’t do any more to cast disrepute on the Supreme Court.

September 4, 2024
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, during a break from being questioned behind closed doors by investigators on the House Jan. 6 committee in 2022. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Kamala Harris should release the names of her ‘bundlers’

Yes, politics takes money. But Americans have a right to know where it’s coming from.

August 30, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a fundraising dinner in Columbia, S.C., on June 10, 2022. (Meg Kinnard/AP)

A new indictment points to Trump’s illegal acts — and justices’ errors

What does the new Trump indictment tell us? That the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling makes no sense.

August 28, 2024
Supporters of President Donald Trump are seen scaling the walls at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Michael Robinson Chávez/The Washington Post)

What ‘leave it to the states’ really means for abortion

Donald Trump tells us to let states decide abortion law. Arkansas is showing what’s wrong with that position.

August 27, 2024
Supporters and opponents of a proposed ballot measure to scale back an Arkansas abortion ban in Little Rock on July 5. (Andrew DeMillo/AP)

Justice Gorsuch’s book of fish tales

A new book by the Supreme Court conservative begs the question: Does having all the facts matter?

August 22, 2024
Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch promotes his new book at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calf., on Aug. 9. (Paul Bersebach/Orange County Register/AP)

Trump’s no Nixon. He doesn’t deserve a pardon.

When it comes to Trump, accountability is a can endlessly kicked down the road.

August 14, 2024
President Richard M. Nixon speaks near Orlando on Nov. 17, 1973.

Schumer’s presidential immunity fix will only make things worse

Jurisdiction-stripping is a terrible way to deal with even the worst excesses of this Supreme Court.

August 13, 2024
Former president Donald Trump in Washington in January. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

How a good idea — term limits for justices — was drowned in bad politics

Term limits for Supreme Court justices is overdue. Partisan politics keeps it from happening.

August 3, 2024
Members of the Supreme Court in October 2022. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

‘I do think she can win!’ Impromptu thoughts on Harris doubters.

Were Democrats too hasty about falling in line?

July 25, 2024