The Supreme Court ruled Monday that President Donald Trump does not currently have the authority to remove Federal Reserve President Lisa Cook from the central bank.
The court did not rule on whether Mr. Trump ultimately had the authority to fire Mr. Cook or other Fed directors.
Instead, the 5-4 ruling rejected President Trump’s proposal to suspend a lower federal court’s ruling that had blocked her termination as the lawsuit challenging her termination progressed. Mr. Trump claimed that he tried to fire Mr. Cook because he suspected him of committing mortgage fraud, a claim that Mr. Cook adamantly denied.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, which included fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh and three liberal members of the court: Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. 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 System,” Roberts wrote.
In a post on Truth Social after the ruling, President Trump said the court had remanded the case “based on rigorous procedures” and vowed to take further action against Cook.
“We will take immediate and appropriate steps to ensure that those who committed the wrongdoing do not make important decisions regarding the welfare of the United States,” Trump said.
Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that the court found “there is no reason to leave the public in limbo or to cast doubt on the status of one of our nation’s (and the world’s) most important financial institutions.”
The court also rejected the administration’s argument that Cook received adequate due process.
“At a minimum, Mr. Cook was entitled to some explanation of the evidence in question, some means of response, and a deadline for response,” Roberts wrote.
Federal Reserve Board Director Lisa Cook speaks on “Economic and Monetary Policy Outlook” at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, on November 3, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The ruling came about nine months after Mr. Trump said he was firing Mr. Cook because he was accused of committing mortgage fraud by a Trump-appointed official before he became a Fed director. The court also ruled in the Cook case on the same day, extending the president’s power through a ruling in another case, upholding President Trump’s dismissal of Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter.
But she has remained on the Fed board ever since after a federal district court judge and then the Supreme Court blocked her removal pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging Trump’s actions.
Despite Trump’s claims that he wanted to fire Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, Cook and others believed he was motivated by her refusal to vote for interest rate cuts that the president demanded from the Fed during the first nine months of his second term in the White House.
Under the Federal Reserve Act, the president can only remove a Fed director for “just cause.”
“This was never about mortgage documents signed years before I became Federal Reserve president,” Cook said in a statement Monday.
“It was an attempt to remove me from office on trumped-up excuses because I refused to bow to political pressure and continued to set interest rates based solely on what was in the best interest of the American people,” she said.
“That is the Federal Reserve’s most fundamental duty. Today’s decision affirms the principles that have underpinned sound economic management for generations: that the Federal Reserve must make all policy decisions free from political interference and based on evidence and independent judgment. This fundamental principle has guided the Federal Reserve since its founding.”
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Cook’s case on January 21st. During that day’s hearing, several justices expressed skepticism about Justice Department lawyers’ argument that President Trump had legal grounds to fire Cook.
Kavanaugh said Attorney General D. John Sauer’s argument that the president can fire Fed directors for cause without having their decisions reviewed by a judge “will weaken, if not shatter, the Fed’s independence.”
Cook is the first black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board. An appointee of former President Joe Biden, she has denied allegations of mortgage fraud made last summer by FHFA Secretary Bill Pulte, who later filed a criminal complaint with the Justice Department.
Mr. Pulte, who is also now the director of national intelligence, stood by his charges in a statement after Monday’s sentencing.
“As I have stated repeatedly, I believe Lisa Cook will be indicted for mortgage fraud,” Pulte said in a post on X.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a longtime critic of President Trump’s efforts to pressure the Fed, saw the ruling as a rebuke to both the president and Mr. Prut.
“Even the Supreme Court, led by Donald Trump, agrees that the attempt to remove Lisa Cook is illegal,” Warren said in a post on X. “Donald Trump and his henchman Bill Peult failed to remove former Speaker Jerome Powell and Governor Cook.”
Warren called for Prut’s removal and warned that “Trump’s efforts to take over America’s central bank are far from over.”
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