President Donald Trump’s bid to gain greater control of the Federal Reserve has been dealt a blow after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his push to immediately fire central bank governor Lisa Cook.
The conservative-dominated court ruled on Wednesday that Cook could remain in her job for now, thwarting Trump’s desire to have greater sway over monetary policy by stacking the Fed with loyalists.
The move is likely to infuriate the president, who had tried to fire Cook over unproven claims of mortgage fraud made by MAGA ally Bill Pulte, the head of Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Pulte, who has a history of targeting Trump’s enemies, made similar claims against New York Attorney General Letitia James, the Democratic prosecutor who successfully pursued Trump over civil fraud relating to his real estate empire.
But Cook insists she has done nothing wrong, and argued in court that the president lacked the authority to sack her on such grounds.
Wednesday’s ruling allows the Federal Reserve Governor to remain in her job for now—at least until the Supreme Court hears the arguments from both parties in January.
“President Trump lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. We look forward to ultimate victory after presenting our oral arguments before the Supreme Court in January,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai.
Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the board, was appointed under the Biden administration in 2022 and her current term extends until 2038.
The push to now unseat her comes as Trump seeks to overhaul the Fed and install governors who are more likely to cut interest rates, which he believes will boost the U.S. economy.
The issue has angered the president for months, fueling his calls for Powell to resign.
Last month, the bank finally cut interest rates for the first time this year due to mounting evidence of a weakening job market and elevated inflation.
But the quarter of a percent cut was less than what the Trump administration had hoped for, and only one policy maker on the board advocated for a bigger rate cut, Trump ally and newly-installed Governor Stephen Miran.
Trump’s extraordinary bid to fire Cook began in August, when the president posted a public termination letter on his Truth Social account, addressed to her.
“You are hereby removed from your position on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, effective immediately,” he told her.
But in a legal smackdown earlier this month, a federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled that removing Cook caused her “irreparable harm” and that the president had likely violated her procedural right to due process by posting his letter to her on social media.
“President Trump has not identified anything related to Cook’s conduct or job performance as a board member that would indicate that she is harming the board or the public interest by executing her duties unfaithfully or ineffectively,” U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb added.
The president then turned to the U.S. Supreme Court, where conservatives have a 6-3 majority, and three of those six justices were appointed by Trump himself.
But the court’s decision means she can stay until it hears oral arguments next year. The case is expected to be closely watched, given the seismic shift that any ruling could have on U.S. economic policy.
