Supreme Court rules Trump cannot fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook for now

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that President Donald Trump does not have the authority to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from the central bank for now. The court did not rule whether Trump ultimately will have the power to fire Cook or any other member of the Fed. Instead, it rejected Trump's bid to stay a lower federal court ruling that had prevented her from being terminated as her lawsuit challenging her dismissal proceeds. The ruling came nearly nine months after Trump said he was firing Cook because she had been accused by a Trump-appointed official of committing mortgage fraud before becoming a Fed governor. But she remained on 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 claim that he wanted to remove Cook because of the mortgage fraud allegation, Cook and others believed he was motivated by her refusal to vote for interest rate cuts that the president demanded from the Fed in the first nine months of his second term in the White House. Under the Federal Reserve Act, a president can remove a Fed governor only "for cause." The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Cook's case on Jan. 21. During the hearing that day, multiple justices expressed skepticism at arguments by a Justice Department lawyer that Trump had legal grounds to fire her. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that the argument by the lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, that a president could fire any Fed governor for cause without being subject to review of that decision by a judge "would weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve." Cook is the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor. An appointee of former President Joe Biden, she had denied the allegations of mortgage fraud, which were made last summer by FHFA Director Bill Pulte. This is breaking news. Check back for updates.