US Supreme Court fight may shape Trump's ability to fire Fed chair
When the U.S. Supreme Court rules on President Donald Trump's effort to remove two federal labor board members, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will be watching for clues about his own job security.
The court fight over Trump's firings of two Democratic labor board members despite legal protections for these positions has emerged as a key test of his efforts to bring under his sway federal agencies meant by Congress to be independent from a president's direct control.
At issue in the dispute over Trump's dismissals of Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board and Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board is whether safeguards passed by Congress to prevent officials in these posts from being fired without cause encroach on presidential authority set out in the U.S. Constitution. Harris and Wilcox were appointed by the Republican president's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, and both had years left in their terms in office.
The cases are being watched as potential proxies for whether Trump has the authority to fire Fed officials, particularly after his recent criticism of Powell shook financial markets and fueled questions about the U.S. central bank's ability to pursue monetary policy free from political interference.
Powell began a four-year term as Fed chief in 2018 after being nominated by Trump during his first presidential term and was reappointed by Biden to serve in that post to May 2026. His 14-year term on the Fed's Board of Governors is set to run through January 2028.
Members of the Fed's Board of Governors, like the labor board members, have 'for-cause' removal protections meant to let a president fire them only for reasons such as inefficiency or malfeasance, not policy disagreement.
Legal experts said that if the Supreme Court decides to eliminate removal protections for the two labor boards, it may try to create an exception that would insulate Federal Reserve officials like Powell in a bid to preserve the Fed's independence.
The court gestured in this direction in a footnote to a 2020 ruling that suggested, but did not decide, that the Fed may be able to 'claim a special historical status' entitling it to a greater degree of distance from presidential control than some other independent agencies. Reuters
When the U.S. Supreme Court rules on President Donald Trump's effort to remove two federal labor board members, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will be watching for clues about his own job security.
The court fight over Trump's firings of two Democratic labor board members despite legal protections for these positions has emerged as a key test of his efforts to bring under his sway federal agencies meant by Congress to be independent from a president's direct control.
At issue in the dispute over Trump's dismissals of Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board and Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board is whether safeguards passed by Congress to prevent officials in these posts from being fired without cause encroach on presidential authority set out in the U.S. Constitution. Harris and Wilcox were appointed by the Republican president's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, and both had years left in their terms in office.
The cases are being watched as potential proxies for whether Trump has the authority to fire Fed officials, particularly after his recent criticism of Powell shook financial markets and fueled questions about the U.S. central bank's ability to pursue monetary policy free from political interference.
Powell began a four-year term as Fed chief in 2018 after being nominated by Trump during his first presidential term and was reappointed by Biden to serve in that post to May 2026. His 14-year term on the Fed's Board of Governors is set to run through January 2028.
Members of the Fed's Board of Governors, like the labor board members, have 'for-cause' removal protections meant to let a president fire them only for reasons such as inefficiency or malfeasance, not policy disagreement.
Legal experts said that if the Supreme Court decides to eliminate removal protections for the two labor boards, it may try to create an exception that would insulate Federal Reserve officials like Powell in a bid to preserve the Fed's independence.
The court gestured in this direction in a footnote to a 2020 ruling that suggested, but did not decide, that the Fed may be able to 'claim a special historical status' entitling it to a greater degree of distance from presidential control than some other independent agencies. Reuters
When the U.S. Supreme Court rules on President Donald Trump's effort to remove two federal labor board members, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will be watching for clues about his own job security.
The court fight over Trump's firings of two Democratic labor board members despite legal protections for these positions has emerged as a key test of his efforts to bring under his sway federal agencies meant by Congress to be independent from a president's direct control.
At issue in the dispute over Trump's dismissals of Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board and Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board is whether safeguards passed by Congress to prevent officials in these posts from being fired without cause encroach on presidential authority set out in the U.S. Constitution. Harris and Wilcox were appointed by the Republican president's Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, and both had years left in their terms in office.
The cases are being watched as potential proxies for whether Trump has the authority to fire Fed officials, particularly after his recent criticism of Powell shook financial markets and fueled questions about the U.S. central bank's ability to pursue monetary policy free from political interference.
Powell began a four-year term as Fed chief in 2018 after being nominated by Trump during his first presidential term and was reappointed by Biden to serve in that post to May 2026. His 14-year term on the Fed's Board of Governors is set to run through January 2028.
Members of the Fed's Board of Governors, like the labor board members, have 'for-cause' removal protections meant to let a president fire them only for reasons such as inefficiency or malfeasance, not policy disagreement.
Legal experts said that if the Supreme Court decides to eliminate removal protections for the two labor boards, it may try to create an exception that would insulate Federal Reserve officials like Powell in a bid to preserve the Fed's independence.
The court gestured in this direction in a footnote to a 2020 ruling that suggested, but did not decide, that the Fed may be able to 'claim a special historical status' entitling it to a greater degree of distance from presidential control than some other independent agencies. Reuters
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US Supreme Court fight may shape Trump's ability to fire Fed chair
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