Washington: The Supreme Court on Monday dramatically expanded presidential power, upholding President Donald Trump’s firings of the heads of independent federal agencies with one important exception, the Federal Reserve.
The justices allowed Fed governor Lisa Cook to stay in her job while she fights the Republican president’s effort to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she has denied. But other than at the nation’s central bank, with its role of setting interest rates, the court held that presidents have free rein to fire agency heads at will, despite federal laws that require a cause for such dismissals and a 91-year-old decision that had limited executive authority.
With the six conservative justices in the majority, the nine-member court jettisoned its unanimous decision in Humphrey’s Executor that had limited when presidents can fire agency board members – in part to try to ensure decision-making free of political influence.
The justices ruled in the case of former Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter, whom Trump fired without cause despite a provision of federal law that requires a reason.
The logic of the decision extends to other agencies, including the National Labour Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, where Trump has also fired board members.
In Cook’s case, the court voted 5-4 to reject the Trump administration’s effort to get Cook out of her job now. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the three liberal justices were in the majority.
Cook was nominated to the Fed’s Board of Governors by then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
