Supreme Court Keeps Cook At Fed; Rules President May Fire FTC Commissioners

Research evidence excerpt

Supreme Court Keeps Cook At Fed; Rules President May Fire FTC Commissioners

TD Securities (USA) LLC POLICY NOTE

June 29, 2026

■WRG Financial Services Supreme Court Keeps Cook At Fed; Rules

■WRG Housing

President May Fire FTC Commissioners

Jaret Seiberg THE TD COWEN INSIGHT

202 868 5313

The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump improperly tried to remove Lisa Cook as a

jaret.seiberg@tdsecurities.com

Federal Reserve governor. Though Trump could try again, we believe the opinion is positive

for monetary policy independence and for the reserve banks. In a related opinion, the justices

gave Trump the right to fire members of other government commissions. We see this applying

to the SEC, CFTC and FDIC.

What Is Happening

■The Supreme Court ruled today that Lisa Cook may remain at the Federal Reserve though it

did not close the door to the President's effort to remove her over allegations of mortgage

improprieties.

■The justice also ruled 6 to 3 that the President may remove members of the Federal Trade

Commission for any reason as they exercise executive branch authority.

Our View

■We view the Cook decision as restricting the ability of the President to remove Federal

Reserve governors. That should reinforce the independence of the central bank and make it

less likely that the President tries to fire other governors in order to put his supporters on the

board.

■This also should limit the risk that a Trump-aligned Federal Reserve Board seeks to replace

the presidents of the various Federal Reserve Banks with people who support the President's

view of monetary policy.

■The majority argued that the Federal Reserve is unique due to its monetary policy function.

And that means Lisa Cook was entitled to confront the mortgage impropriety charges that