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

Biden had good reason to pardon Hunter. Except he promised he’d never do it.

When it mattered politically, Biden insisted: No pardon.

December 2, 2024
President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Friday. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

A dangerous and unqualified choice for the FBI

Senators must do their constitutional duty once again by rejecting Trump’s nomination of loyalist Kash Patel.

December 1, 2024
Kash Patel speaks at a rally in Minden, Nevada, Oct. 8, 2022.

Four ways Trump will undermine the authority of Congress

The president-elect is setting the stage for a vast, dangerous and unconstitutional expansion of presidential power

November 22, 2024

Gaetz is out. But hold the celebration.

The former congressman’s exit cannot be an excuse for the Senate to give other Trump nominees a free pass.

November 21, 2024
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) at the Capitol on Sept. 29, 2023. (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post)

The House speaker’s pathetic case for deep-sixing the Gaetz ethics report

Speaker Mike Johnson suddenly opposes releasing the report on Trump’s attorney general nominee.

November 18, 2024
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) at the Madison Square Garden rally for Donald Trump in New  York on Oct. 27. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Welcome to the Donald Trump Amateur Hour. Can democracy survive it?

Trump is stocking his Cabinet with amateurs and pranksters. Can democracy survive it?

November 15, 2024
Rep. Matt Gaetz looms on screen as Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies before the House in June. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Trump’s recess appointments gambit? A power grab hiding in plain sight.

The president-elect wants to make appointments without Senate approval. Can anyone stop him?

November 11, 2024
Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) is flanked by Sens. John Thune (R-South Dakota), left, and John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Capitol Hill in October 2017. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

As Jack Smith winds up his cases, Team Trump cranks up the retribution

All of this was predictable but that does not make it any less chilling.

November 10, 2024
Donald Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith in 2023. (Tasos Katopodis, Reuters; Kevin Wurm/Reuters)

Impromptu after the election: ‘It’s still sinking in’

“Impromptu” grapples with what the Trump victory says about the United States.

November 7, 2024

This is bigger than any one mistake Harris made

Donald Trump won. But why? Were Americans really just mad about their grocery bill? Columnists Ruth Marcus, Dana Milbank and James Hohmann grapple with this election result as an “X-ray into our national soul.”

November 6, 2024