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The Supreme Court has refused to let Donald Trump immediately fire Lisa Cook, in a pivotal victory for the Federal Reserve governor and the US central bank’s independence.
The top US court said in an order that it had deferred the president’s application until the justices heard oral arguments in the case in January 2026 — a move that means Cook can continue her work at the central bank until early next year.
Trump had moved to fire Cook in August, but a federal judge had halted the sacking while litigation was pending. An appeals court later backed that decision, which Trump appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court’s decision will relieve worries among some US economic officials that if justices had allowed Trump to temporarily remove Cook, it would have given the president the green light to force out other members of the Fed’s policy-setting board.
“The [Supreme Court’s] order is just two sentences long, but what it does is extraordinary and very monumental,” said Peter Conti-Brown, a professor at the Wharton School.
The order showed that the Supreme Court believed Fed officials had more protection than other US civil servants, who the court has allowed the president to temporarily remove from their posts, Conti-Brown added.
The case underscores how the Supreme Court has been thrust into the centre of Trump’s attempt to reshape the government. America’s most powerful bench will start a new term next week, which is widely expected to determine the boundaries of Trump’s authority as he tests the limits of his power in his second term.
Trump, who has railed against the Fed since his return to office in January, tried to fire Cook in August after his federal housing director accused her of committing mortgage fraud.
The Department of Justice is investigating the allegations, which focus on whether Cook purposefully listed two properties as primary residences in mortgage documents. Cook has not been charged and has denied the allegations.
Abbe Lowell, Cook’s lawyer, said, “the Court’s decision rightly allows Governor Cook to continue in her role on the Federal Reserve Board, and we look forward to further proceedings consistent with the Court’s order”.
Kush Desai, a spokesperson for the White House, countered that “President Trump lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.”
He added: “We look forward to ultimate victory after presenting our oral arguments before the Supreme Court in January.”
The Fed declined to comment on Wednesday but has previously said it would abide by any court judgments. A lawyer representing Cook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cook’s lawyers have warned in court documents that allowing for her removal would undermine the Fed’s authority to set interest rates free from political pressure and harm the US economy.
“Temporarily removing her from her post would threaten our nation’s economic stability and raise questions about the Federal Reserve’s continued independence — risking shockwaves in the financial markets that could not easily be undone,” they wrote in a filing.
The Trump administration has argued that the Fed’s “uniquely important role in the American economy only heightens the government’s and the public’s interest in ensuring that an ethically compromised member does not continue wielding its vast powers”, according to court documents.
Trump moved to fire Cook after Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte alleged Cook had claimed both a house in Michigan and an Atlanta condominium as her principal residence.
The president has argued that the evidence presented by Pulte would allow him to remove Cook “for cause” — a principle that has rarely been tested in court but is typically interpreted as gross misconduct.
A request for a loan estimate on the Atlanta condominium, seen by the Financial Times, shows that she noted that the property would be used as a vacation home.
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