Washington Post Supreme Court correspondent Ann Marimow ’97 has been named the Fall 2024 Zubrow Distinguished Visiting Journalist in the College of Arts and Sciences. The program brings accomplished journalists to Cornell each year to interact with faculty, researchers and students.

“This is a pivotal moment in our democracy, and we are privileged to have Ann Marimow on campus to offer her insights on the inner workings of the Supreme Court,” said Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences. “We’re grateful that the Zubrow visiting journalist program enables us to bring such high caliber journalists to Cornell and I’m looking forward to Ann’s engagement with the campus community.”

Marimow follows the work of the high court for the Washington Post at a time of historic change and heightened scrutiny. She has reported on the federal courts for more than a decade and written revelatory stories about former President Donald Trump’s lasting legacy on the judiciary, the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision eliminating the nationwide right to abortion and gaps in the judiciary’s system for investigating workplace misconduct. She has covered the confirmations of three Supreme Court justices and Trump’s two impeachment trials, and broke the story about the Obama Justice Department’s leak investigation that targeted a Fox News reporter as a possible criminal co-conspirator.

Before joining the Post in 2005 to cover politics in Maryland, Marimow spent five years reporting for the San Jose Mercury News, where she covered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the recall by California voters of Gov. Gray Davis. Previously, she spent two years reporting for the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire, where she followed John McCain on the campaign trail. In 2015, she had a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, where she studied law and poetry.

“I am eager to talk with Cornell faculty, students and researchers about the loss of public confidence in government institutions, including the Supreme Court, and to engage with the community about the ways in which the court’s decisions are affecting major aspects of American life,” Marimow said. “I am excited to be back on campus to share my experience as a journalist during a period of major change in the industry, and to learn from the community to enrich my coverage of the court.”

Covering the Supreme Court, says Marimow, is a dream job first inspired by her time at Cornell as a government major and sports reporter for the Cornell Daily Sun. 

Her undergraduate interests foreshadowed this career path: Her senior thesis was inspired by the 1996 opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54 that forced the Virginia Military Institute to accept women for the first time, and her most memorable class was a First Amendment seminar taught by the late Richard Polenberg, the Marie Underhill Noll Professor of History Emeritus.

Marimow’s first job after college was as an editorial assistant at Congressional Quarterly in D.C., thanks in part to fellow Sun alum, Rose Gutfeld Edwards ’78.

Cornell’s impact on her life extends beyond her work — one of her first dates with her future husband, also a Cornell government major, was at Lynah rink. Marimow, Jake Sargent ’98 and their three teenagers are now all avid Cornell hockey fans.

While Marimow is on campus as a Zubrow Fellow the weeks of Oct. 21 and Nov. 18, she will visit classes and meet with faculty, students, staff and the Cornell Daily Sun. She also plans to spend time at the Cornell Law School to better understand how the nation’s future lawyers are being trained. A public event is planned for her November visit.

The Distinguished Visiting Journalist program is funded through a significant endowment from Jan Rock Zubrow ’77 and Barry Zubrow, as well as additional philanthropic support from Carol MacCorkle ’64, Jay Branegan ’72, Rose Gutfeld Edwards ’78 and the Dr. Guinevere Griest ’44 Fund for Public Engagement in A&S.

Linda Glaser is news and media relations manager for the College of Arts and Sciences.