Justice Denied?
By Ben Everidge for Thomas
Photo Credit: Adobe Stock By Proxima Studio
The Supreme Court’s Five Most Damaging Decisions …
The Supreme Court this week cleared the way for President Donald J. Trump to fire the sole remaining Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), cementing the 47th president’s push to exert unprecedented control over the federal bureaucracy.
Earlier this year, the justices allowed the President to fire Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).
What These Cases Mean: Trump, the Fed, and the Power to Remove
As of September 2025, President Trump has also attempted to remove Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, citing alleged misrepresentations in mortgage documents regarding her primary residence.
The legal fight proceeded through the district court and the D.C. Circuit, both of which temporarily blocked her removal, finding that the alleged misconduct did not meet the “for cause” standard required by the congressionally authorized Federal Reserve Act. The statute gives legally protected tenure to Fed governors, meaning the president cannot (or should not be able to) fire them at will but only for cause, such as “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.
This dispute is now on track to reach the Supreme Court or be decided by it. The broader constitutional issue is whether presidents have the power to override these statutory protections and remove Fed governors without cause. Such a decision could fundamentally weaken the legal insulation Congress embedded in the Fed’s structure.
