The Supreme Court blocked President Donald Trump from firing Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, a consequential setback for the commander-in-chief as he attempts to exert pressure on the nation’s central bank.
The ruling was 5-4, with conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh joining the liberals – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Trump became the first president in the nearly 112-year history of the Federal Reserve to attempt to fire a sitting governor.
Members of the Fed, by law, are shielded from being fired without cause, allowing the body to operate largely outside of political pressures.
The Justices ruled that Trump could not immediately fire Cook from the Fed’s Board of Governors, which he attempted to do last August, after his housing czar accused Cook of mortgage fraud.
No charges have been brought against Cook to date, and her lawyers blasted the misconduct claim as both ‘unprecedented and illegal,’ and a thinly veiled effort by Trump to wrest more control over the Fed and pressure its members to lower benchmark interest rates.
The Trump administration’s top lawyer, John Sauer, struggled to find sympathy with members of the high court during oral arguments this year, in an early indication of how the court might rule.
Justices grilled Sauer about Trump’s attempt to abruptly fire Cook without notice and without the ability for her to contest her removal.
Even Trump’s own nominees seemed inclined to keep Cook in place. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said allowing Cook to be removed abruptly would not leave room for judicial review, due process, or remedy, should Cook wish to challenge the basis of her removal.
Trump became the first president in the nearly 112-year history of the Federal Reserve to attempt to fire a sitting governor
Then-Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Fed Board of Governor member Lisa Cook
The Supreme Court building is seen in Washington, DC
‘There’s a very low bar for cause, and one that the President alone determines,’ Kavanaugh told Sauer. ‘And that would weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve that we just discussed.’
‘No court has ever explored those facts,’ Justice Samuel Alito said of the allegations against Cook, citing concerns about the ‘very hurried manner’ Trump went about calling for her removal.
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and her lawyer, Abbe Lowell, walk outside the Supreme Court
Lisa Cook, governor of the US Federal Reserve, shakes hands with Jerome Powell after being sworn in to office
The Supreme Court’s decision to keep Cook remain in place on the Fed board while it reviewed the case was itself significant.
In recent months, justices have overwhelmingly sided with Trump on emergency stay requests while underlying cases moved forward, including allowing the removal of other quasi-independent agencies.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
