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Early Life and Education

Charles F. C. Ruff became one of the most widely respected American lawyers of his generation, known for a combination of intellectual rigor, understated courtroom presence, and a steady hand in public crises. He studied at Swarthmore College, where his analytical approach to politics and history took shape, and went on to earn a law degree from Columbia University. Those formative years gave him both the scholarly grounding and the temperament for the complex litigation and public-law work that would define his career.

Early Career and Adversity

Ruff's early legal path included academic work and public-interest projects that carried him well beyond the courtroom. While working overseas early in his career, he contracted a sudden neurological illness that left him with partial paralysis and reliant on a wheelchair. The episode, physically devastating but not career-defining in any limiting sense, became part of the narrative of his resilience. Colleagues later remarked that his calm, economical movements and unflappable demeanor in court and negotiations seemed to reflect a mind trained to focus on essentials. He continued to teach, write, and try cases, building a reputation for meticulous preparation and a gift for distilling complex facts into clear legal arguments.

Watergate and Federal Service

Ruff entered national view with the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, where he worked alongside and after figures such as Archibald Cox, Leon Jaworski, and Henry Ruth. In the final phase of that historic investigation, he played a leadership role as the office completed prosecutions and wound down its work. This experience, at the intersection of constitutional law, criminal procedure, and the rule of law under extraordinary political pressure, made him a trusted public lawyer for the rest of his life.

He later served as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, managing a sprawling docket that mixed street-level criminal enforcement with high-profile public integrity matters. The position demanded constant coordination with Justice Department leadership and local law enforcement, and it honed his instincts for institutional integrity, prosecutorial discretion, and the limits of power. Those instincts became hallmarks of his advice in later roles.

District of Columbia Leadership

Ruff returned to local government during a period of stress for the nation's capital, becoming the Corporation Counsel (the city's chief legal officer). Working closely with Mayor Marion Barry and the city's financial leadership, including reform-minded officials such as Anthony A. Williams, he helped stabilize the government's legal posture in the shadow of a congressionally created control board. His approach in Washington's legal department emphasized professional standards, practical settlements, and rigorous ethics, improving how the city handled litigation and advised agencies. Colleagues credited him with restoring credibility to a crucial but often overlooked arm of municipal government.

White House Counsel and the Clinton Impeachment

Ruff's most visible service came as White House Counsel to President Bill Clinton. In a presidency crowded with legal and political hazards, he became a central figure during the investigations led by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and, later, the impeachment proceedings. Inside the West Wing, he worked with Chief of Staff John Podesta and senior aides including Bruce Lindsey, while his own counsel's office featured trusted deputies such as Cheryl Mills and Lanny Breuer. He also coordinated closely with the President's personal lawyer, David Kendall, to ensure consistent legal strategy across congressional inquiries and court matters.

During the Senate trial, presided over by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Ruff served as the lead voice of the White House defense. He faced House managers led by Representative Henry Hyde, with members including Lindsey Graham pressing the case for conviction, while Senate leaders Trent Lott and Tom Daschle steered a chamber that balanced constitutional duty and political reality. Ruff's presentations were remembered for restraint rather than theatrics: he framed the constitutional stakes, parsed the evidentiary record, and urged senators to separate legal sufficiency from political disagreement. His performance helped shape a defense that emphasized standards of proof and the gravity of removal, contributing to the Senate's eventual acquittal.

Return to Private Practice and Public Counsel

After leaving the White House, Ruff returned to private practice in Washington, D.C., at Covington & Burling, where he had previously been a partner. Clients sought him out for sensitive internal investigations, congressional oversight conflicts, and appellate strategy. He was known for asking a few precise questions that redirected entire teams toward the determinative facts and legal theories. Younger lawyers remembered him as a generous mentor who insisted on candor in internal drafts and courtesy in public filings.

Character and Legacy

Across federal investigations, city government, and the presidency, Ruff built a reputation for sobriety and fair play. He believed that the law's authority resided not only in statutes and precedents but in careful process, respect for institutions, and disciplined advocacy. Those who worked with him, presidents and mayors on one hand, junior associates on the other, remarked on his ability to lower the temperature of a room and elevate the quality of argument. His wheelchair, ever-present yet never the point, became a quiet emblem of his resilience and an inspiration to many who saw in him a model of public service conducted with dignity.

Ruff died in 2000, at the height of a career that might otherwise have gone on for many more years. He left behind family, former students, colleagues, and clients who measured his legacy not only by the famous cases, the Watergate prosecutions and the Clinton impeachment, but also by the culture of professionalism he fostered: speak precisely, do not overstate, and remember that constitutional crises are best met with calm. In Washington's often theatrical legal world, his style was notable for what it left out: rancor, flourish for its own sake, and shortcuts. The people around him, from Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton to Kenneth Starr, Chief Justice Rehnquist, John Podesta, Cheryl Mills, Lanny Breuer, Bruce Lindsey, David Kendall, Henry Hyde, Trent Lott, and Tom Daschle, formed the backdrop of an era. Yet it was Ruff's even voice, measured, courteous, exact, that gave many of those moments their legal frame, and with it, their lasting meaning.