Instant Reaction: Supreme Court Blocks Trump from Firing Fed's Lisa Cook

Summary

Podcast Summary: Balance of Power – Instant Reaction: Supreme Court Blocks Trump from Firing Fed's Lisa Cook

Host: Bloomberg (Joe Mathieu & Kailey Leinz, with Paul, Scarlett, and guests)
Date: June 29, 2026

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Overview

This special episode delivers instant analysis and reactions to several major Supreme Court decisions—most notably, the ruling that President Trump cannot immediately fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, despite allegations against her. Simultaneously, the Court expanded the president's power to dismiss leaders of most other federal agencies, marking a pivotal redefinition of executive authority in Washington. The episode further explores decisions on mail-in ballots and the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, providing political, legal, and economic context.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Supreme Court: Lisa Cook Stays (For Now)

• [02:14–05:53]
  June Grasso (Legal Analyst) unpacks the Court’s decision:

  • Trump attempted to fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board over allegations of mortgage fraud, without giving her a chance for due process.
  • Supreme Court ruled that she cannot be immediately ousted—highlighting the need for some form of hearing or process before dismissal.
  • The case will continue in lower courts, but for now Cook stays in her position, thanks in part to her high-profile legal representation.
  • This outcome preserves central bank independence, at least temporarily.

  "There was no any kind of procedure at all before he said that... The Supreme Court justices were going to vote with Lisa Cook and not allow Trump to do that because of the status of the Federal Reserve." – June Grasso [02:14]

  "She had absolutely no process. What would it take for you to have some kind of a hearing at least before this happens?" – June Grasso [02:24]

• Implications:

  • The ruling is not final; it only blocks immediate removal while litigation plays out.
  • Chief Justice Roberts is seen as dispersing major decisions to prevent a blockbuster last day at the Court.

2. Presidential Power Expanded: The Slaughter Case

• [05:40–06:28, 13:27–14:49]
  The episode explains that while the Federal Reserve has been treated as "different," other agencies are not:

  • The Court's decision in the “Slaughter case” allows the President to fire officials from up to 20 agencies, overturning the long-standing Humphrey's Executor precedent.
  • Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic commissioner on the FTC, can be fired by the president at will.

  "They've done away with Humphrey's executor... Now they appear to have gotten rid of it since they're allowing the Slaughter to be fired." – June Grasso [03:05]

  "That's not just a win for Trump. That's a win for the executive branch." – Elliott Stein [14:38]

  • Unitary Executive Theory: The majority on the Court aligns with this doctrine, which holds that presidents have direct authority over executive branch personnel.
  • This shift could erode independent agency autonomy and centralize more power in the Oval Office.

  "If the President doesn't like what you're doing, you're fired... this court just believes in presidential power." – June Grasso [06:35]

  "If you have these independent commissioners that the President can't fire, you almost have this fourth branch of government. That's the counter argument." – Elliott Stein [15:24]

3. Market and Political Reaction

• [07:23–07:50]
  The central bank's independence is seen as crucial; markets responded cautiously as these rulings published.

  "Stocks... were at session lows right around the time that this opinion was published. They've since come back a little bit..." – Bloomberg Anchor [07:23]

• Senator Elizabeth Warren’s reaction: [15:48]

  • Declared intent to "keep fighting back against attacks on the Fed."
  • Criticized the source of the allegations against Cook.

4. Mail-in Ballots and Political Impact

• [08:41–10:02]
  The Supreme Court upheld the acceptance of mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day for up to five days—in Mississippi and over 20 other states—a surprise ruling viewed as a setback for Trump and the GOP.

  "That's actually a big decision and it is a surprise." – June Grasso [09:37]

• The ruling has potential implications for the upcoming midterms and future elections.

5. E. Jean Carroll Defamation Case

• [24:23–25:22]
  The Supreme Court left intact the jury’s finding that Trump sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, securing her $5 million award and ending Trump's legal attempts to overturn the verdict.

  "This probably isn't going to be something that President Trump is too happy with. This does deal essentially a final blow to President Trump's efforts to end one of the most significant legal cases against him." – Tyler Kendall [24:42]

6. Legal Process and Outlook

• [10:38–12:53]
  Elliott Stein (Bloomberg Litigation Analyst) on process for Lisa Cook:

  • The litmus test for firing is now that the official must be afforded notice and a chance to respond before being removed.
  • If the administration does not pursue further proceedings, the case ends and Cook stays; otherwise, more litigation looms.

  "If the Trump administration continues to want to remove her... they'll have to have some sort of proceeding, not a full trial, but some sort of like administrative proceeding where she can present her defenses." – Elliott Stein [12:22]

• The Supreme Court’s focus here is procedural; substantive "for cause" standards may be clarified in future.

7. Fed Independence and Future Precedent

• [22:32–24:23; 27:31–28:09]
  The Federal Reserve's special status is highlighted:

  • Even conservative justices like Brett Kavanaugh sided with liberals because removing Cook would "weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Fed."
  • Supreme Court has signaled the Fed’s structure is unique—quasi-governmental, with private elements—warranting extra legal protection.

  "The striking thing about it is the extent to which the court has basically just abandoned jurisprudence as saying, we like the Federal Reserve...Every other government agency gets treated like a pawn of the president." – Gautam Mukunda [27:31]

  • Gautam Mukunda (Yale): Warns of arbitrary distinctions and the risk of the Court selectively allocating power based on which president holds office.

    "Are these powers that this Court is going to allocate to all presidents, or is it just going to be presidents that it seems to like?...Democrats are already talking about how they can use the powers that the Court has given the executive when they take office." – Gautam Mukunda [31:09]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "If Lisa Cook was removed, it would, quote, weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Fed."
  — Justice Brett Kavanaugh, paraphrased by Tyler Kendall [22:58]

• "The unitary executive theory is something that was invented quite recently... If the unitary executive theory was true, then it would be a power of the president to order inspector generals to cover up for his own crimes. If that makes sense to you, then you believe in the unitary executive."
  — Gautam Mukunda [28:29]

• "I feel like this today was a win. I think that Slaughter case is huge."
  — Bloomberg Host Paul [14:29]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [02:14] The Supreme Court’s rationale on Lisa Cook / due process
• [05:40-06:35] Expansion of presidential firing power ("unitary executive theory")
• [07:23] Stock market reaction
• [08:45-10:02] Mail-in ballots ruling implications
• [10:38-12:53] Elliott Stein on what "for now" means for Lisa Cook
• [13:27-14:49] Distinctions between Fed and other agencies; Slaughter case context
• [15:24] Unitary executive theory explained
• [22:32-24:23] Fed independence and implications for Jay Powell
• [24:23-25:22] E. Jean Carroll case update
• [27:31-28:09] Gautam Mukunda on Supreme Court logic and selective jurisprudence
• [31:09] The future of executive powers under different presidents

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Flow and Tone

The hosts maintain a brisk, analytical, and sometimes skeptical tone, pausing often for legal background and historical context. Legal analysts and correspondents enrich the dialogue with real-world consequences and institutional nuances, linking the rulings to both presidential power and the broader political climate.

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Summary Table: Supreme Court Outcomes Discussed

| Case / Issue | Ruling | Major Impact | |------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------| | Lisa Cook (Federal Reserve) | Cannot be fired now; process required | Preserves Fed independence, at least for now | | FTC/Slaughter case | President can fire at will | Expands exec. power, ends Humphrey's precedent| | Mail-in ballots | Upheld late ballots (if postmarked) | Boosts voting access, potential swing in states| | E. Jean Carroll defamation | Judgment stands | Trump owes $5M, litigation ends |

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For listeners wanting a concise takeaway:

• The Supreme Court drew a sharp line between the Fed and other agencies, preserving some independence for the central bank while granting presidents broad new power elsewhere.
• Multiple legal battles remain active, especially for Lisa Cook, and the landscape of presidential authority may depend on which party holds the office.
• Surprises included expanded ballot access and the capstone in the E. Jean Carroll case, all setting the stage for further legal and political confrontations in Washington.

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This summary provides a robust guide to the episode’s most substantive legal, policy, and political threads, capturing the tone, depth, and evolving significance of today’s Supreme Court decisions.

Transcript

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[Bloomberg Anchor]

Bloomberg Audio

[June Grasso]

Studios Podcasts Radio News

[Bloomberg Anchor]

this is a

[Bloomberg News Intro]

breaking news update from Bloomberg, instant reaction and analysis from our 3,000 journalists and

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

analysts around the world.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

Paul, we have some breaking news. The Supreme Court, of course, publishing its opinions today. It has expanded expanded the president's power to fire top officials. It refuses to let the president immediately oust Lisa Cook, however, and Lisa Cook is now currently allowed to stay in the job for now.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

All right, let's bring in June Grasso, Bloomberg's legal analyst here. She joins us here in studio. Let's start with the Lisa Cook decision here. June, can you summarize what's going on here?

[June Grasso]

So Lisa Cook, as you know, Federal Reserve governor and Donald Trump tried to fire her on the basis of allegations of mortgage fraud. So there was no any kind of procedure at all before he said that. So during the oral arguments, it was pretty clear that the Supreme Court justices were going to vote with Lisa Cook and not allow Trump to do that because of the status of the Federal Reserve. And during the oral arguments, there were a lot of questions by the conservatives as well about, you know, why was there no process here? She had absolutely no process. What would it take for you to have some kind of a hearing at least before this happens. So there was concern on their part, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh had said prior to that that the Fed is different. So that was expected. Now, as far as the Slaughter case where she's on the ftc, they say that that's different and because it's not the Fed. But what this does is this really expands presidential power. It means that the President has the authority to fire people at the top of what, like Trump, 20 agencies or so. And what they've done here is they've done away with Humphrey's executor, which was a decision which is standing for about 70, 80 years, I think, about the ability of presidents to fire people, which was that there was no ability for them to fire people at the head of agencies. And they've been cutting back on that bit by bit by bit. And now they appear to have gotten rid of it since they, I haven't read the opinion yet, obviously, since they're allowing the Slaughter to be fired. And one more thing, too, if you notice this week what's happening and last week what's been happening is that they're, they're releasing opinions at the same time that have to do with the similar issue. And what I think is happening, too, is the it used to be that all the big decisions were loaded to the very end the last day, but now we're seeing big decisions this week and last week. And I think the chief is trying to mix it up so we don't have a day on the last day of the opinion. And there were five, five, six, you know, there were five, six to three decisions, and they were all in these big cases. So I think that that's what's happening here.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

So let me just make sure I understand. The Supreme Court ruled that Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve governor, can stay in her job for now.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

What's now mean?

[Bloomberg Anchor]

That's a, that's a good question. But it's while litigation continues. Right, right, right.

[June Grasso]

So, yeah, because they've had no litigation. All he just said, you're, you know, hello, I want to get her due

[Bloomberg Anchor]

process, in other words.

[June Grasso]

Well, I assume that we have to see what, what the, what the President does now. Are they going to go forward with this? Are they going to bother to go forward with this and have it litigated? Probably. And she's got one of the best Supreme Court litigators around, the former former Solicitor General Paul Clement, who is just really, his record at the Supreme Court is phenomenal, and I think he is the one who has argued the most cases at the court. And you can see the deference the justices pay to him when, when he's arguing. So I mean, that will go on, her litigation will go on to, you know, to stop this. But, you know, by the time, who knows, by the time it gets done, Trump could be out of office. I mean, the way these things drag on.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

So the President's efforts to push her out of the Central Bank's board, that is not going to fail. That failed.

[June Grasso]

Yeah, but.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

And you were saying that his ability to oust other government agency leaders. Yeah, this has been expanded.

[June Grasso]

Right. This is all part of the theory called the unitary executive theory. I don't know if you've heard about it, but it's like that, this people who believe that the power of the executive branch should be in the President. So all these agencies are executive branch agencies. So the President should have the ability to fire the people who are in charge of the executive branch agencies. But I mean, the Fed is different. The Fed is different. But I mean, so with a, with a, with a, the normal President or the prior presidents, you wouldn't worry about what was going to happen because there wouldn't be a wholesale, you're fired. But you know, this opens the door and people have been worried about them doing away with that Humphreys executor opinion.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

And so the risk there is that these agencies perhaps lose some of their independence.

[June Grasso]

Yes, yeah, yeah. Because, you know, if, if the President doesn't like what you're doing, you're fired. You know, but I mean, in reality, he is controlling. He has put most people in those agency heads. Right. Talking about the FCC and things like that. So I don't know that they'll see anything happening right away, but it's a huge win. And this court, as you know, has been expanding presidential power over and over again. I mean, you had those decisions where, you know, nothing the President does in office, in his duties, can he be prosecuted for or. So, I mean, this court just believes in presidential power. And one has to wonder when the next President comes in, if they're not Republican, what, whether they'll start cutting back on presidential power. I mean, I think it's worth noting

[Bloomberg Anchor]

here that stocks fell to session lows, or maybe not fall. They pared their gains and were at session lows right around the time that this opinion was published. They've since come back a little bit and we're looking at modest gains in the S and p, Dow and Nasdaq, the Russell 2000 is lower by 1.1%. So among the headlines that we got is the Supreme Court letting Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve governor, stay in her job. This is a case that really tested the central bank's independence from the White House. So this is a defeat for the President's efforts to oust her over these mortgage fraud allegations. At the same time, we also heard that the Supreme Court has basically said that the mail in ballots can arrive after election Day. That's another defeat for the president. And certainly this is relevant given that we're at a midyear elect, midterm election year, on the other hand. And June, this is where it gets a little complicated. The other government agencies are not seen as independent, really, because the president can let go of whoever he wants.

[June Grasso]

Yeah. And I, you know, I'm trying to pull up the opinion just to see what they're, you know, how they, how they parsed out these two, these two cases. But I'm not getting it. I'm not getting it. I guess I had to refresh, refresh, refresh.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

How about this mail it, this ballot case? Just give us your thoughts on that.

[June Grasso]

That was a, that was a surprise, actually, the ballot case, because that's about Mississippi has a law, as do more than 20 other states, that as long as the ballot is postmarked by Election Day, it can come in five days, up to five days after, and it'll still be counted. So the Republicans were against this. Obviously, President Trump is against this and any kind of mail in ballots. And during the oral arguments, a lot of the conservatives seem to be in favor it, although the Chief justice and Justice Barrett were wondering, well, would this affect. What about states that have all mail in ballots if we say that. So the argument is in the Constitution, it says election Day is this day, so you shouldn't be extending it any further. Well, if you can't extend it further, then can you go, you know, can you also say, well, they can come in ahead of time? So I think that was part of the reasoning and Justice Barrett wrote the opinion. But so that's a huge surprise. And it was five to four. And so the most conservative in the no column. And so that's big because that could have affected the elections, the midterms coming up in so many states, more than 20. So that's actually a big decision and it is a surprise.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

Okay, very good, June. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. June Grasso is a legal analyst for Bloomberg News. We'll let her go back and do that lawyer thing, like actually read the.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

I Know, we, we put her in an unfair position because she, she was working without the text.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

I just want the AI like Cliff Notes.

[June Grasso]

Thanks a lot.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

I'll be leaving one. One pager. Thanks so much. We appreciate that, as always. Let's go to Elliott Stein, litigation analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. I want to go to the Lisa Cook case for me for now. What does for now mean? That she can stay in her job for now?

[Elliott Stein]

Yeah, exactly. Well, this whole appeal was based on a preliminary ruling by the trial court earlier in the case saying that she could stay in her position while the rest of the case would continue. And so that's really the issue that the Supreme Court was looking at. And they said, yes, she can stay in her position, but the real important part of the ruling is that they said the for cause removal restriction requires that she have some sort of notice and opportunity to be heard, which the President and the administration did not offer her. So that, that's sort of the crux of the ruling.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

Okay, so her litigation can continue or the White House's litigation can continue as well. Who hears, who hears out this case?

[Elliott Stein]

So this will go back to the lower courts. And I should preface this by saying I haven't read the full decision. I read the brief summary you referenced. You know, you want AI, but the Supreme Court sort of gives you a brief summary at the beginning of the opinion, which I skimmed. But I think the way it's going to proceed is that it will be sent back down to the trial court for them to issue a final ruling. But the administration, presumably, if they want, will have to offer her some sort of notice and opportunity to be heard if they want to be able to continue to try to fire her. Otherwise the trial court is going to rule in her favor.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

So to the extent the administration wanted to extend litigation, what it should be known to do in the past, what's a timeline for a case like this? Because I'm wondering, does she have to worry about, you know, is this something that could take drag on for years, in which case the Trump administration will, you know, end or how does that.

[Elliott Stein]

Yeah, I mean, it's a little unclear exactly how it's going to proceed. Presumably, if the Trump administration continues to want to remove her from the Fed based on these accusations of mortgage fraud, they'll have to have some sort of proceeding, not a full trial, but some sort of, like, administrative proceeding where she can present her defenses. If the administration doesn't want to do that, the case is essentially over. The trial court will rule in her favor and say There was no notice and opportunity to be heard pursuant to what the Supreme Court said this morning.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

Okay, so is the Supreme Court's role in Lisa Cook done?

[Elliott Stein]

For now. For now. It could always come back later because I don't know if we have real resolution on substantively what cause requires. Right. We sort of know now procedurally what it requires. I'm not sure the Supreme Court, I haven't read the full opinion. Again, I'm not sure they got into the actual definition of what for cause requires substantively.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

Okay, what does this say about how the Supreme Court views the Federal Reserve versus other government agencies?

[Elliott Stein]

Yeah, this is a very good point because the other opinion, one of the other opinions that they issued, but simultaneously with the Cook decision was the Rebecca Slaughter opinion. She was an FTC commissioner. As you recall, President Trump fired multiple commissioners from independent agencies who were appointed by Democrats. For the most part, she challenged that, as did many other commissioners. And the Supreme Court early on sort of hinted that the President would be able to fire these other commissioners of independent agencies. But the Federal Reserve is different. And we saw that very clearly today because the Supreme Court said that the President could indeed fire Rebecca Slaughter and other independent commissioners. I haven't read that opinion either, but presumably they overruled the Humphreys executor decision from 90 years ago which established that the four cause removal restriction was constitutional for independent agencies. I suspect now they're going to say it's unconstitutional.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

I feel like this today was a win. I think that Slaughter case is huge.

[Elliott Stein]

The Slaughter case is a big deal. It's absolutely a big deal.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

It's going to reshape.

[Elliott Stein]

Yeah, but that's not just a win for Trump. That's a win for the executive branch because the next president who comes in can fire any commissioner of an independent agency appointed by a Republican that they don't.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

So a better way to phrase that. It's a win for the executive branch.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

Yeah.

[Elliott Stein]

And he's going to be very upset about the Lisa Cook decision. And also he, in an earlier order, it sounded like he lost his cert petition on the mail in balance and on the mail in ballots and the Jean Carroll case. Right, exactly.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

A lot going on.

[Elliott Stein]

So net net. He's probably going to be angry this afternoon.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

Executive branch, though, I'm not sure. I mean, so now the question for a lot of just scholars, constitutional scholars, is aren't these agencies their ability to be independent? Isn't that a good thing? And I guess that's the debate, Ron.

[Elliott Stein]

So you have to balance that on the one hand versus this theory called the unitary executive theory, that the President should be able to hire and fire anyone he wants in the executive branch and that he oversees the entire executive branch. And if you have these independent commissioners that the President can't fire, you almost have this fourth branch of government. That's the counter argument.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

Okay.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

We have some comments from Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. She is commenting on the Lisa Cook Supreme Court decision, says we'll keep fighting back against attacks on the Fed. She also talks about Bill Pulte and how he can't be trusted, should be removed. But that's separate from, again, her comments on Lisa Cook and how, according to Senator Warren, she or her party will keep fighting back against these attacks on the Federal Reserve. What are the White House's options now? How does it move forward with Lisa Cook specifically?

[Elliott Stein]

Well, I think if they want to continue to go after her for these accusations of mortgage fraud, they can, but they'll have to have some sort of proceeding where she's allowed to present her defenses. I think that's basically it. It's unclear exactly what that looks like. The Supreme Court, in the brief summary that I was able to read before coming on, said it doesn't have to be a full blown trial, but they have to give her some opportunity to be heard and present her defenses.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

And just to put some context on Senator Warren's comments about Bill Pulte, Bill Pulte was the one who brought up the fact that Lisa Cook perhaps had

[CBOE Announcer]

these

[Bloomberg Anchor]

misrepresented her mortgage application.

[June Grasso]

Right.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

Because he was the head of the FHFA and he brought it to the President's attention. And that kind of got everything started, Paul, with this allegation of mortgage fraud.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

So if I'm an agency head appointed by anybody other than Donald Trump, am I nervous about my job today?

[Elliott Stein]

Probably.

[Gautam Mukunda]

But.

[Elliott Stein]

But he, I think he's already fired most of the ones he wants to fire. I mean, I'm serious. Look at the cftc, you have one chairman and that's it. No other commissioners. And so, you know, the effect of that is you don't have. You're probably not going to change the votes because you're always going to. It was always tradition that the chair would resign and let the incoming president appoint someone from his own party. But you're not going to have dissenting voices now to push back on the majority in these agencies. And I think that's really the big effect.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

How much of this is a surprise? What surprises you about this string of decisions?

[Elliott Stein]

Nothing. This was exactly as we anticipated that Humphrey's executor would be overruled. The President would be able to fire commissioners of independent agencies under the unitary executive theory. But the Supreme Court gave us hints as far back as last year that the Federal Reserve is different just based on it said it has a unique structure, a unique history. It's not, it's sort of this quasi private entity because it has a mix of being a government entity and also private sector members who or at least private sector members who vote in some of the regional banks, presidents. So it didn't come as a surprise. We thought the Fed would be treated differently.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

Mail in ballot Was that a surprise?

[Elliott Stein]

That's a little bit of a surprise. I don't follow that case. It doesn't have a huge, doesn't have a business impact.

[June Grasso]

Fair.

[Elliott Stein]

But yes, I would say it's a little bit of a surprise and I think June probably touched on that earlier.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

All right, good. Elliot Stein, Great stuff as always. Elliot Stein, Bloomberg Intelligence Litigation Analyst See that? Law school paid off totally. He started strong at Stanford and then he took a long term going to law school. I mean, I don't know.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

He did that all without the benefit of reading the full text. So thank you Elliot, for doing that.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

Exactly.

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[Tyler Kendall]

Well, by and large, Paul, the administration got a win when it comes to the Trump v. Slaughter case, essentially expanding the president's authority to remove independent heads of independent agencies. Rebecca Slaughter was the last Democratic commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission. So that is considered to be a win for the Trump administration, not necessarily a surprising decision. The the justices had been a little bit wary of the idea that the president wouldn't be able to remove officials that are accountable to the executive branch. But the Lisa Cook decision means that she can stay in her job, at least for now, which means that that legal fight does continue. The justices did not weigh in on whether or not they believed that the Trump administration's accusations rise to the level that Lisa Cook should be fired. Which means this is still a stay tuned situation. But by and large, that part of the decisions today does mark at least partially a setback for this White House.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

So when it comes to Lisa Cook, I guess a lot of people are wondering what that means for Jay Powell because the former Fed chair had said that he would stay on the Federal Reserve Board until legal issues are resolved. And maybe Lisa Cook was one of them. But I guess the Fed renovation and the DOJ's action against the Fed and Jay Powell specifically is still it's still out there, isn't it?

[Tyler Kendall]

Yeah. And it could come back up. There were a few different threads that we were watching in this case, Scarlett. One is the idea of equities, basically that the justices were looking into what the broad range impacts would be when it comes to the Federal Reserve and what would happen to the US Economy if a governor was removed. And I bring that up because we heard this be one of the main arguments from one of the conservative justices, Brett Kavanaugh, his line of questioning back when this case was heard in January, very much focused on this. I'm trying to find the quote at the time. He said that if Lisa Cook was removed, it would, quote, weakened in, if not shatter the independence of the Fed. And today the decision was 5, 4. And that included Brett Kavanaugh siding with the liberal justices on this court in favor of Lisa Cook being able to keep her job for now. So that's probably a thread that would make its way through if a case against Powell ultimately came up. And the second is the idea that Lisa Cook wasn't given essentially due process in responding to the allegations against her before she was fired. You remember when all of this was happening and essentially she was fired via a tweet from President Trump without much chance to respond to the allegations that were posted on social media. So there are a lot of different factors in this case, but by and large, it is taken to mean that the Supreme Court bolstered the independence of the central bank.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

Tyler, we also had a ruling Supreme Court earlier today left intact a jury's finding that Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll, putting her in line to collect a $5 million award from the president. What does the president commented on on this particular case?

[Tyler Kendall]

So we haven't heard from him yet today. And the justices didn't really provide much of an explanation for this decision. But this probably isn't going to be something that President Trump is too happy with. This does deal essentially a final blow to President Trump's efforts to end one of the most significant legal cases against him. It was another one that we were tracking closely, but it wasn't heard in the standard term of the Supreme Court. So it came out earlier this morning instead of with this ruling. Instead we just got this Supreme Court decision, which means that President Trump is going to have to pay that $5 million judgment.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

All in all, Tyler, what do you expect in terms of the president's of giving some kind of response? How does he usually respond to these kinds of decisions? Will it be on Truth Social, do you think? Do we expect him to hold a news conference, for instance? What will you be looking for?

[Tyler Kendall]

I would expect that we'll probably will probably get a post out on Truth Social today. President Trump actually doesn't have any public events on his schedule that doesn't mean that some of the closed door events couldn't open up. He does have a few different policy meetings that we're tracking closely today. But this case was one where President Trump was heavily involved in. We're also waiting likely later this week to get a decision on the other really consult consequential case that we're watching for, which is birthright citizenship. And I was actually here at the court back in April when President Trump came here too. He very clearly wanted to make his opinion known when it comes to the justices trying to figure out the legality of his executive order that deals with ending automatic birthright citizenship. I would expect him to be very vocal when we get that decision, likely later this week. We could maybe see it early next week if the Supreme Court adds a date in early July, but we're really expecting that to be later this week. So it could potentially be two blows to the Trump administration's agenda when it comes to the Lisa Cook case and what appears to be a wariness around the Trump administration's argument related to birthright citizenship.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

Oh, thank you for spinning it forward for us, Tyler. Tyler Kendall is our chief Washington correspondent, of course, giving us the latest with regards to the Supreme Court letting Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve governor, stay in her job for now. We're going to get into what all this means and what this means in terms of what the Fed looks like in, you know, now that the Supreme Court has made this ruling. Gautam Mukunda is lecturer at the Yale School of Management and a Bloomberg Opinion contributor. He writes regularly on issues of management, the intersection of policy and business. Got them. Your initial thoughts on on this headline, the ruling from the Supreme Court that it has allowed Lisa Cook to stay in her job for now and it has pretty much signaled that the Federal Reserve is different than other government agencies.

[Elliott Stein]

Yeah.

[Gautam Mukunda]

It's not a surprising ruling because the court has already signaled that it thinks of the Federal Reserve is different. I think the striking thing about it is the extent to which the court has basically just abandoned jurisprudence as saying, we like the Federal Reserve. We think it's really important. So we're gonna treat it as a special case. Whereas every other government agency, and they also announced day right. That this was another one of the rulings today that the president does have the power to fire FTC commissioners. Every other government agency gets treated like a pawn of the president. But somehow, for mystical reasons, we will not really specify the Federal Reserve is special. Okay, I guess it is.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

We were informed by, you know, a couple of our guests, legal backgrounds, that there's some theory out there that says, hey, you know, the universal kind of thing. I'm not sure what it's called, but basically says the president should be able to do all this stuff. It's his or her administration, and so the president should be able to appoint who they want in these agencies.

[Gautam Mukunda]

Yeah. So the theory is the unitary executive. That's what they're referring to is the idea that every single person in the executive branch is kind of like the fingers of the hand of the president. The unitary executive theory is something that was invented quite recently, really, in the 1970s. If you'd taken it to one of the founders, they would have just been baffled. But just to demonstrate how it breaks down so completely, Inspector general, Inspectors general, the people whose job it is to identify fraud and tell us that the president or his appointees is stealing from the American public are also members of the executive branch. So if the unitary executive theory was true, then it would be a power of the president to order inspector generals to cover up for his own crimes. If that makes sense to you, then you believe in the unitary executive.

[Bloomberg Anchor]

Wow, okay. I had to think about that one for a little bit, but that is saying something. So this idea that the Federal Reserve is different, can the Trump administration do anything else in its quest to remake the Fed, or is this something where they kind of just have to call it an L and step back? How are you thinking this through?

[Gautam Mukunda]

Well, the ruling is a for now ruling. Right. So what they're presumably going to do is then continue on with the litigation against Lisa Cook in the hope of either winning a conviction or just, you know, draining her resources and her resolve to such an extent that she. That she steps down. I don't think either of those will work because the charges against her are on their face, quite absurd. And she doesn't seem like the sort of person who's gonna back down in the face of this kind of an assault. But this story is not over. We just ended one chapter.

[Bloomberg Host Paul]

President Trump is out with a tweet just now. Of course, as I'm sure you're not surprised, but basically touting the Slaughter case as a all caps, big win here. And really saying this is, you know, presidents have been trying to do this since the 1930s. Again, try and put this into context. It seems like a win for not. Not. Not just Donald Trump, but for the executive branch. But again, maybe it's a. It's a real loss for independence. It's tough. I'm not sure how you weigh those two things.

[Elliott Stein]

That's right.

[Gautam Mukunda]

So it is clearly the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Roberts in particular, and you know, has, has a long history of just saying that he's, he, he, he wants to concentrate power in the hands of the executive branch and in the hands of the court. And we should note, right, it's not just the executive branch, it's the court because the court has arrogated to itself the ability to say that we can at any time make up rules that say that, hey, the executive branch doesn't have this power. But okay, so they've done that and they've contracted these powers into the court and to the executive branch. That is a big win. But there are two sets of questions here. One is, are these powers that this court is going to allocate to all presidents or is it just going to be presidents that it seems to like? And I don't think we know the answer to that yet. And second is, you know, a different president who had a much more ambitious view of what they wanted to do in policy. And I can tell you the Democrats are already talking about how they can use the powers that the Court has given the executive when they take office, is going to use this in a very, very different way. Ways that I suspect Chief Justice Roberts is not going to like.

[Elliott Stein]

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[Bloomberg Host Paul]

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[Elliott Stein]

That's genius.

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