SCOTUS delivers several rulings, including President Trump’s firing of Lisa Cook
WASHINGTON (NBC, KYMA) - The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has delivered several rulings Monday, including on President Donald Trump's firing of Lisa Cook, whom former President Joe Biden had nominated to a 14-year term on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors.
In a series of decisions, SCOTUS delivered good news and bad news to President Trump, ruling he cannot fire Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook, at least for now, leaving her in her post while she keeps challenging the allegations against her.
The president can only remove a member, for cause, under the Federal Reserve Act.
When Trump first tried to fire Cook, whom former President Biden appointed, in August of last year, he accused her of mortgage fraud, which she fiercely denies.
Hanging over the case is Trump's longstanding public pressure campaign to try to get the fed to lower interest rates more rapidly. as well as his ability to exert control over bodies that are designed to be insulated from politics.
In a blow to that norm, the justices separately ruled the president can fire Rebecca Slaughter, a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), without cause, despite a 1914 law establishing FTC members can only be fired for reasons like inefficiency and neglecting their duties.
The move raises questions for other independent federal agencies with similar restrictions on how people can be removed to guard from political pressure.
While in another loss for Trump, SCOTUS refused to hear his appeal to overturn a jury's finding in a federal lawsuit that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room back in 1996, and later defamed her by calling her claims a hoax.
The justices' decision leaves the 2023 verdict in place, along with a civil judgment, saying he has to pay her $5 million, though the president fiercely denies the allegations.
SCOTUS also ruled that elections' officials in Mississippi can still count mail-in ballots that arrive up to five days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked before.
The justices rejected a challenge from the Repubican National Committee, and the decision could have major implications for other states and the upcoming midterms.
