He has alleged that she committed mortgage fraud, but hanging over the particulars of this dispute were Trump’s larger disagreements with recent decisions by the Fed (including Cook) not to lower US interest rates.
Writing for the majority, Roberts said that Cook deserved a chance to challenge her removal and rebut Trump’s accusations, which would have to be further substantiated. Roberts warned of the “calamities that could arise” if presidents were able to impose their will on the Federal Reserve.
If that ruling weren’t enough of a setback for the president, another court decision on Monday – on whether federal law prohibits states from counting mail-in ballots postmarked by election day but received after – broke against the president.
In that case, the three liberal justices were joined by Roberts as well as Trump-appointee Amy Coney Barrett, who penned the majority opinion.
States have broad powers to set the “time, place and manner” of holding congressional elections, Barrett wrote, quoting the US Constitution. She dismissed Trump’s allegations that mail-in balloting is susceptible to election fraud, indicating that this was an issue best resolved through the “democratic process”.
Trump was quick to call for just that, urging Congress to pass his election-reform package that would significantly curtail mail-in voting.
Although the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has approved this legislation, Democrats – and a handful of Republicans – have blocked a vote in the Senate.
The president may have won sweeping new powers, but when it comes to two of his big policy goals – lower interest rates and election reform – the court majority was not his friend on Monday.
