The Supreme Court on Thursday shot down President Trump's attempt to fire Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve governing board, at least for now.The court's decision means Cook will stay in her job until her legal challenge to her firing plays out in the lower courts.That process could take considerable time, and in the meantime, Cook, the first African-American woman to serve on the Fed Board, will remain in her position, unlike other independent agency heads who have been fired at will by Trump, without any finding of wrongdoing.
In each of those cases, the Supreme Court refused to reinstate the agency heads while their cases were being considered by the court.The court, however, treated the Cook case differently.Writing for the 5-4 majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that the Fed is different from other government agencies because it is a "uniquely structured...entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United States."Therefore the President cannot fire members of the Fed board at will; they can only be fired for cause.
And because there have been no lower court findings on Trump's allegations of wrongdoing against Cook, the case will now return to the lower courts for further examination.Meanwhile, Cook will remain on the Fed Board.Trump maintains that he gave Cook adequate notice of her firing by announcing it on his Truth Social page, and that he owed her no chance to rebut the allegations or to be heard on the matter.As to Trump's claim that Cook falsified documents to obtain loans on two different properties she listed as her primary residences, Cook has vehemently denied the charges, and her lawyers accused administration officials of "cherry picking" from her mortgage applications to make perfectly legal mortgage documents seem somehow nefarious.
To underline the point, her lawyers pointed to recent reporting that four of Trump's Cabinet members, as well as acting Attorney General Todd Blanc...