Supreme Court preserves Fed independence: Public Policy and US Economics

Research evidence excerpt

Supreme Court preserves Fed independence: Public Policy and US Economics

FICC Research

Macro Research

29 June 2026

Public Policy and US Economics

Supreme Court preserves Fed

independence

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court narrowly ruled that

Public Policy

Governor Cook can stay on the Fed Board as her fraud case is Michael McLean(v)

litigated. The Court's ruling also foreshadowed that it expects +1 212 526 9393 michael.mclean@barclays.com

Governor Cook to win the case on the merits. BCI, US

US Economics

•• Today, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook Marc Giannoni(ii)

can remain on the Federal Reserve Board pending the conclusion of litigation over her +1 212 526 9373

removal. The majority also thought that the Trump administration is unlikely to succeed in marc.giannoni@barclays.com

the lawsuit over Cook's removal "for cause". BCI, US

Jonathan Millar(ii)

•• In our view, the bottom line of today’s Cook and Slaughter opinions is the following: The +1 212 526 4876

6-3 majority in Slaughter affirmed that heads of all independent agencies except the Fed serve jonathan.millar@barclays.com

"at will" of the president, despite any "for cause" protections in their enabling statutes. This BCI, US

was already strongly signaled by the court’s decision in May 2025 not to block the president’s

immediate firing of agency heads from the FTC and NLRB. The 5-4 ruling in favor of Cook

effectively says that Fed governors have special status: Fed appointments are not "at will",

and the administration will need to establish in court that the "for cause" threshold in the

Federal Reserve Act has been satisfied. The stringency of that test remains undefined, for

now, and will evolve as Cook’s fraud case proceeds.