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The Supreme Court ruled Monday that President Trump cannot remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, delivering one of the most significant rebukes of his economic agenda and reaffirming the political insulation that has long defined the central bank's structure.
A Decisive Check on Presidential Authority Over the Fed Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, said the justices saw "no reason to leave the public in limbo, or to sow doubt as to the status of one of our Nation's (and the world's) most important financial institutions." Roberts added that the court would not "so quickly unsettle this 'special arrangement sanctioned by history.'" The decision draws a firm line between executive ambition and central bank governance.
Fed governors are appointed to lengthy terms precisely to insulate the institution from political interference.
The Federal Reserve Act does permit a president to remove a governor for cause — but until Trump, no president had ever attempted to invoke that provision.
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