The Supreme Court on Monday blocked President Trump's attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook in a 5-4 ruling that affirmed the central bank's insulation from the White House, then in a separate 6-3 decision the same day handed the president broad new authority to dismiss members of other independent agencies at will.

The paired rulings redraw the boundary between the White House and the federal regulatory state. The Fed kept its for-cause shield. The Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission did not. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote both majority opinions.

The Cook ruling

The court rejected Trump's bid to lift a lower-court order that has kept Cook in her seat since her August attempted dismissal, ruling that she had not received the due process owed to her under federal law. Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh and by Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The majority did not foreclose a second attempt. In a footnote, Roberts said the administration may move again to remove Cook over the alleged mortgage fraud if it first lays out the evidence, gives her an opportunity to respond and sets a deadline for that response. "Only after Cook has had the opportunity to respond to the charges made against her may a final decision be made," Roberts wrote. "And only then can the courts assess the validity and sufficiency of such charges."

Roberts framed the decision as a defense of the institution. "Not only the fact of independence but also the appearance of independence is key to the Federal Reserve's design," he wrote. He added that any restructuring of the Fed's governance "must come from Congress, not the courts."

Trump announced the attempt to remove Cook in August on Truth Social, citing claims by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte that she had filed mortgage documents listing two different principal residences. Cook, a Biden appointee and the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, denied the allegations. Her term runs through 2038.

The FTC ruling

The court's other decision Monday, also written by Roberts, upheld Trump's March 2025 firing of FTC Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, the agency's two Democratic appointees. Trump had told the commissioners their service was "inconsistent with [his] Administration's priorities," according to the majority opinion.

The ruling overturned Humphrey's Executor v. United States, the 1935 decision that for 90 years had barred presidents from removing members of independent agencies without good cause. Roberts wrote that because such commissioners exercise executive power, they must ultimately answer to the president. The vote was 6-3.

Jaret Seiberg, financial policy analyst at TD Cowen, wrote in a Monday note: "The justices have given future Presidents the power to fire members of independent agencies." He said the Cook decision should "reinforce the independence of the central bank and make it less likely that the President tries to fire other governors in order to put his supporters on the board."

The dissents

Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, dissented from the Cook ruling. Alito wrote that "The nascency of this lawsuit and the novelty of the issues that it presents militated against holding oral argument and issuing a comprehensive opinion at this juncture."

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a separate dissent accusing the majority of advancing "policy arguments" for an independent central bank that he said were "ultimately arguments against the Constitution." Thomas called the decision "an unprecedented incursion on the Executive Branch" in his dissent.

White House response

Trump on Truth Social said the court had returned the Cook case "on a strictly procedural basis" and pledged his administration "will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America." The White House, asked for comment, pointed to that post.

The president called the FTC ruling a "BIG WIN" and "one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers." In a second post he said the decision "greatly" increased presidential power "at a time when it is most needed."

Pulte, who now also serves as director of national intelligence, stood by his accusations against Cook. "As I have repeatedly said, I believe Lisa Cook will be indicted for mortgage fraud," he wrote on X.

Cook said in a written statement that the case "was never about mortgage documents signed years before I became a Federal Reserve governor" and called the allegations "a manufactured pretext" tied to her refusal to support the rate cuts Trump demanded in the opening months of his second term.

The counterpoint

Today's reporting draws on center-lean wire and business coverage; conservative legal commentary defending the Humphrey's Executor reversal as a constitutional correction is not represented in the dossier. Thomas's dissent is the closest articulation of that view in the record. Pulte and other Trump-appointed officials have signaled the administration will pursue Cook again rather than accept the ruling as final.

What comes next

The Cook case returns to lower courts, where the administration must decide whether to restart the removal process with the evidentiary record Roberts described.