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

His job is to interpret the Constitution. Would he rather run the FDA?

Sam Alito is a Supreme Court justice. Why do I get the idea he’d rather run the FDA?

March 28, 2024
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. in D.C. on March 7, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In a new book, Breyer makes the case for setting originalism aside

The retired Supreme Court justice thinks originalism has run its course. I have my doubts.

March 22, 2024

‘The beast of angry American women’: 3 columnists on the new abortion politics

In the pilot episode of “Impromptu,” the new podcast from Post Opinions, three columnists talk about abortion before its return to the Supreme Court next week.

March 21, 2024

What to expect when you’re expecting an abortion pill argument

When SCOTUS overturned Roe, it indicated that abortion was an issue to be relegated to the states. Instead, it has blown up American politics. Post columnists discuss the post-Dobbs world and what’s at stake in the upcoming mifepristone arguments.

March 20, 2024

Fair’s fair: Trump should be able to appeal the judgment against him

In the long run, the rule of law will be on steadier footing if the former president gets his day in court.

March 19, 2024
Pedestrians walk past 40 Wall Street, a Donald Trump-owned building in Manhattan, on Tuesday. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Outlawing abortion is just the start for some conservative judges

Now teens in Texas can’t obtain contraceptives without their parents being informed and granting approval.

March 18, 2024
An 18-year-old looks over birth control options at a hospital in Denver in 2014. (Marc Piscotty for The Washington Post)

Willis prevails in Georgia case, but her win is devastating

For Fani Willis, a damaging, devastating win in Georgia.

March 15, 2024
Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is sworn in during a hearing in the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Feb. 15. (Alyssa Pointer/Reuters)

The special counsel was unfair to Biden and his transcript proves it

Just check the transcript: Hur was unfair in his characterizations of the president’s capabilities.

March 13, 2024
Former special counsel Robert K. Hur testifies at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

For Trump’s sake, two GOP women go to war against their own sex

Nancy Mace and Katie Britt sacrifice other women to help Donald Trump.

March 11, 2024
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) in D.C. on Feb. 28 and Sen. Katie Boyd Britt (R-Ala.) in D.C. on Feb. 15, 2023. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP; Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

With Colorado ruling, the court displays an ‘originalism of convenience’

Intellectual flexibility is something to applaud. Too bad it appears to be just another means to an end.

March 7, 2024
The Supreme Court justices in 2022. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)