THE Supreme Court decided on Monday that the president Donald Trump does not have the power to shoot Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook of the central bank for the moment. But the notice leaves open the possibility of firing her in the future.
The court did not rule whether Trump will ultimately have the power to fire Cook or any other Fed member.
Instead, the 5-4 ruling rejected Trump’s attempt to stay a lower federal court ruling that had blocked his firing while his lawsuit challenging his firing was pending. Trump had claimed he sought to fire Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud, which she categorically denied.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the notice for the majority, which included fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, as well as the court’s three liberal members, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The four other conservative justices dissented.
“Not only the fact of independence but also the appearance of independence is key to the design of the Federal Reserve,” Roberts wrote.
In a footnote, Roberts said the ruling did not prevent Trump from again attempting to impeach Cook for alleged mortgage fraud if he chose to do so.
But the ruling says Trump’s first attempt failed because Cook was not given the due process he was entitled to under federal law. Any further action against her would require additional steps, including an explanation of the evidence against her, a way for her to respond and a deadline for that response.
“And only then can the courts evaluate the validity and sufficiency of such accusations,” Roberts wrote.
Trump, in a post to Truth Social after the ruling, said the court had remanded the case “on a strictly procedural basis” and vowed to take further action against Cook.
“We will immediately take appropriate action to ensure that an individual who has committed wrongdoing does not make vital decisions regarding the well-being of the United States of America,” Trump wrote.
Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that the court saw “no reason to leave the public unclear or sow doubt about the status of one of our country’s (and the world’s) most important financial institutions.”
Roberts said Congress designed the Federal Reserve to operate independently of the president and any changes to that structure would have to come from lawmakers.
“Any change in this plan must come from Congress, not the courts,” Roberts wrote. “That’s why we cannot accept the government’s assertions in this case. It would allow the president to remove a member of the Federal Reserve at any time, for any reason, without any notice and without any judicial review afterward.”
Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, dissented, arguing that the court should not have issued such a sweeping opinion at this point in Cook’s case.
“The nascent nature of this trial and the novelty of the questions it raises militate against holding a pleading and issuing an overall opinion at this stage.”
Justice Clarence Thomas, in a separate dissent, accused the majority of making “political arguments” in favor of an independent central bank that he said were “ultimately arguments against the Constitution.”
“Today’s decision constitutes an unprecedented incursion against the executive branch,” Thomas wrote.
Lisa Cook, Governor of the Federal Reserve, speaks on “The Outlook for the Economy and Monetary Policy” at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, United States, November 3, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The decision came nearly nine months after Trump said he was firing Cook because she was accused by a Trump appointee of committing mortgage fraud before becoming Fed governor. The court ruled in the Cook case the same day it expanded presidential powers via a ruling in another case, confirming Trump’s dismissal from Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter.
But she has remained a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors since then, after a federal district court judge and then the Supreme Court blocked her removal pending the outcome of her lawsuit challenging Trump’s action.
Despite Trump’s assertion that he wanted to impeach Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, Cook and others believed he was motivated by his refusal to vote for the interest rate cuts the president demanded from the Fed during the first nine months of his second term in the White House.
Under the Federal Reserve Act, a president can only remove a Fed governor “for cause.”
“There was never any discussion of mortgage documents signed years before I became governor of the Federal Reserve,” Cook said in a statement Monday.
“It was an attempt to remove me under a fabricated pretext because I refused to give in to political pressure and continued to set interest rates based solely on what would best serve the American people,” she said.
“This is the most fundamental obligation of a Federal Reserve governor. Today’s decision affirms a principle that has underpinned sound economic management for generations: the Federal Reserve must make all policy decisions guided by evidence and independent judgment, free from political interference. This fundamental principle has guided the Federal Reserve since its inception.”
Read more about CNBC’s politics coverageThe Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Cook’s case on January 21. During the hearing that day, several justices expressed skepticism about a Justice Department lawyer’s arguments that Trump had legal grounds to fire her.
Kavanaugh said the argument by the lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, that a president could fire any Fed governor for cause without being subject to a judge’s review of that decision “would weaken, if not break, the independence of the Federal Reserve.”
Cook is the first black woman to serve as Fed governor. An appointee of the former president Joe Bidenshe had denied allegations of mortgage fraud made last summer by FHFA Director Bill Pulte, who later filed a complaint. criminal referrals against her with the Department of Justice.
Pulte, which is now also the director of national intelligencein a statement after Monday’s decision, maintained its accusations.
“As I have said numerous times, I believe Lisa Cook will be charged with mortgage fraud,” Pulte said in a statement. post on.
The senator Elizabeth WarrenD-Mass., a long-standing critic of Trump’s efforts to pressure the Fed, framing the decision as a rebuke to both the president and Pulte.
“Even a Supreme Court staffed by Donald Trump agrees that his attempt to fire Lisa Cook was unlawful,” Warren said in a statement. post on. “Donald Trump and his lackey Bill Pulte failed to fire former President Jerome Powell and Governor Cook.”
Warren called for Pulte’s removal and warned that Trump’s “efforts to take control of the U.S. central bank are far from over.”
