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US Supreme Court blocks Donald Trump from sacking Fed governor Lisa Cook

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US Supreme Court blocks Donald Trump from sacking Fed governor Lisa Cook

Justices say president can fire top regulator in separate decision

!Lisa Cook speaks and gestures with her hand during a Fed Listens event.

*The case involving Lisa Cook threatened an almost-century-old protection for central bankers, which prevents US presidents from firing them for anything less than ‘for cause’

© Al Drago/Bloomberg*

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Claire Jones in Sintra, Ella Lee in Washington and Stefania Palma in London

Published4 hours ago

Updated12:27

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The US Supreme Court blocked Donald Trump from firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, even as the court ruled the president could remove top officials at federal agencies.

The pair of decisions released on Monday affirms the independence of the Federal Reserve, while giving the White House much greater power over independent federal agencies whose responsibilities range from competition regulation to economic statistics.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the 5-4 majority decision on Monday that Congress limited the president’s power to remove Fed governors for “good reason”.

Allowing Trump to remove Cook would open the door for “the President to remove a member of the Federal Reserve at any time, for any reason, without any notice before and without any judicial check after”, the chief justice wrote.

Monday’s opinion knocks back the first attempt by a US president to remove a Fed governor — a move that critics had warned would have eroded the central bank’s freedom to set interest rates without political pressure.

Trump has launched a series of attacks on the Fed’s independence, repeatedly calling on the US central bank to slash rates to boost growth since returning to office in January 2025. His campaign has alarmed many investors given the central bank’s key position in global markets.

On Monday, Trump said the court had ruled against him “on a strictly procedural basis” and said he would still push to ensure “that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions”.

The US president last August attempted to fire Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud after his close ally Bill Pulte presented documents that appeared to show the Fed governor had claimed primary residence status on two properties.

The Supreme Court’s ruling upholds a lower-court ruling that lets Cook stay in her job while the case is resolved. The majority determined that the Trump administration is not likely to succeed on its legal arguments in the case. Cook denies the allegations and has not been charged.

Monday’s second ruling, meanwhile, cleared the way for Trump to fire a Federal Trade Commission member without cause, a move that will hand the White House power to exert greater control over independent agencies.

The justices ruled 6-3 that Rebecca Slaughter, a Democ