Supreme Court blocks Trump firing of Fed governor

The Supreme Court blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to remove Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, preserving her seat for now while giving the president broader power in a separate ruling to fire leaders of other independent agencies.

The decisions, both written by Chief Justice John Roberts, drew a sharp line between the Federal Reserve and other federal bodies long insulated by Congress from direct White House control. In Cook’s case, the court ruled 5-4 that she may remain on the Fed’s Board of Governors while her legal challenge continues. In the other case, the court ruled 6-3 that Trump lawfully fired Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter without cause, overturning a major 1935 precedent that had limited presidential removal power.

Roberts said accepting the administration’s position in the Cook case “would in effect transform the Federal Reserve’s for-cause protection into at-will employment,” a step he called “out of step with the statute Congress enacted and our Nation’s tradition of central banking protected from political interference.”

The court did not define what qualifies as “cause” for removing a Fed governor under the Federal Reserve Act. Instead, it said any definition must account for the central bank’s “unique historical status and role.” Roberts also wrote that Cook had not received the procedural protections required before her attempted removal, including notice, an explanation of the evidence and a chance to respond. “Because Cook did not receive such process, her removal was ‘erroneous and void’ from the start,” he wrote, according to CBS News.

Trump moved to fire Cook in August after alleging that she made misrepresentations on mortgage filings involving properties in Michigan and Georgia before her 2021 nomination by President Joe Biden. Trump said on Truth Social that he had “sufficient cause” because of what he called “deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter.” Cook has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

The BBC reported that the case now returns to lower courts, where the administration would have to prove its mortgage fraud allegations if it seeks to proceed and where Cook would be able to challenge them. NBC News reported that bank documents it obtained appear to contradict the fraud claim.

The ruling is a significant limit on Trump’s effort to exert influence over the Fed, which sets U.S. interest rates and has long been treated as independent from political pressure. Trump has repeatedly criticized the central bank for not cutting rates more aggressively and had directed much of his criticism at former Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Kevin Warsh replaced Powell as chair in May, while Powell’s term as a Fed governor runs until 2028. Cook’s 14-year term is scheduled to expire in 2038, The Guardian reported.

The FTC ruling moved in the opposite direction. Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner, was fired in March 2025 after being told her continued service was inconsistent with the administration’s priorities, NPR reported. A 1914 law creating the FTC allowed commissioners to be removed only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office,” and lower courts had sided with Slaughter based on the 1935 Humphrey’s Executor decision.

The Supreme Court rejected that protection. “Our Constitution creates three branches, but only one president,” Roberts wrote. “Subordinates who exercise the President’s power are subject to removal by him. Then, and only then, can they remain accountable to the President, and the President to the people.”

The FTC decision directly affects Slaughter, but its reasoning could apply to other multimember agencies with similar removal limits. The court has already allowed Trump to remove officials from agencies including the National Labor Relations Board, Merit Systems Protection Board, Consumer Product Safety Commission and others while litigation proceeded. The three liberal justices dissented in the FTC case, while the Cook majority included Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh and the court’s three liberal justices.