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Key Takeaways
- The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Trump cannot remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook while litigation over the underlying case continues.
- The ruling doesn’t resolve whether Trump ultimately has authority to fire Cook; the case returns to lower courts.
- The case stems from unadjudicated mortgage fraud allegations against Cook made by FHFA Director Bill Pulte in August 2025.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on June 29 that President Donald Trump cannot remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook while litigation over her case continues. The decision keeps the Fed’s current composition in place while the case over Trump’s attempt to remove her continues in lower courts.
What the Ruling Does and Does Not Decide
The court’s order blocks Cook’s removal for now, pending further proceedings in lower courts on the underlying case. The ruling does not resolve whether Trump ultimately has authority to fire Cook; it preserves her position while the legal dispute continues.
Cook and her allies have said Trump sought her removal in order to install a governor more open to rate cuts, a claim the court’s order does not address. With the court’s order in place, he cannot bypass that process by firing sitting governors.
Monday’s order is not a final resolution of Cook’s case, and the dispute over her removal now returns to lower courts, where the underlying legal questions about presidential authority over Fed governors will continue to be litigated.
Allegations Against Cook Remain Unresolved
The case stems from allegations made by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte in August 2025, who accused Cook of mortgage fraud. Pulte claims Cook listed properties in Michigan and Georgia as primary residences within weeks of each other in 2021, before she joined the Fed board. The allegations have not been adjudicated.
Cook’s attorney has called the claim baseless, saying it rests on a single ambiguous reference in one mortgage document. Cook addressed the matter directly in a statement. Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said:
“This was never about mortgage documents […] It was an attempt to remove me on a manufactured pretext because I refused to bow to political pressure.”
Cook and her allies have pointed to the timing of the removal attempt, noting it followed months of Trump pressuring the Fed to cut rates faster, and that Cook had voted to hold rates steady. The Supreme Court’s order does not rule on the merits of either side’s claims about motive.
Rate Path Stays Unchanged for Now
The Federal Reserve’s June Federal Open Market Committee meeting removed rate-cut projections for 2026 and reopened the possibility of further hikes. The board is currently led by Chair Kevin Warsh, whose appointment Trump has previously cited as evidence that he can influence Fed policy direction through chair selection rather than removals.
Bitcoin traded below $60,000 on Monday, putting it more than 50% below its all-time high. Bitcoin exchange-traded fund outflows continued through June, with some investors citing rotation away from non-yielding assets amid the shift in rate expectations. Bitcoin’s price moves coincided with, but cannot be attributed solely to, the Cook ruling or Fed policy signals.
