US Supreme Court expands Trump's presidential power

The US Supreme Court on Monday dramatically expanded presidential power when it ruled to uphold President Donald Trump's firings of the heads of independent federal agencies. The top court, however, stood firm against his decision to fire the governor of the Federal Reserve, the US central bank. Among a series of rulings, the court voted 5-4 to reject Trump's 2025 firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook. But it held that presidents have free rein to fire agency heads at will, overruling a landmark decision that dates back to almost a century. The court upheld Trump's dismissal of Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter over policy differences.
Trump last August tried to oust Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, citing unproven mortgage fraud allegations which she denied. Cook argued the allegations were a pretext to remove her for monetary policy differences. Trump has openly attacked the Federal Reserve as he exercised pressure on the world's biggest central bank to cut interest rates more rapidly and deeply. On Monday, the court's Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh were among those who ruled against Trump's decision. Roberts said the Federal Reserve's governors "do not serve at the president's pleasure — they instead serve staggered 14 year terms, and may be removed only 'for cause.'" The court argued that the president cannot remove officials at the independent Fed "for any reason or no reason."
However, the court in a separate 6-3 ruling backed Trump's firing of Democratic Federal Trade Commission member Slaughter, expanding his presidential powers over the executive branch of government. The ruling overturned the Supreme Court's 1935 precedent that had recognized the authority of Congress to protect leaders of certain regulatory agencies from presidential removal at will.
Their rhetoric was reminiscent of the presidential immunity case in 2024 that allowed Trump to avoid prosecution for his efforts to undo his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The court is writing a decision "for the ages," Justice Neil Gorsuch said then. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissent she summarized aloud in the courtroom, said the ruling could lead to "submission, instability, and even oppression." "The president, to be sure, emerges with more power than ever before. That power was given to him by six justices on this court, not the people or the Constitution," Sotomayor said.
Trump welcomed the ruling on Slaughter's case as a "BIG WIN." He said on social media the decision was "confirming Presidential Power in our Country to remove Executive Branch Officers ‌and Agency ​Appointees, or Representatives, under Article II," the constitutional provision laying out presidential powers. "This Decision was long sought by United States Presidents, dating all the way back to the 1930s," Trump wrote, calling the decision "one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers."