The Supreme Court just drew a very specific line in the sand. The Federal Reserve gets to keep its independence. Nearly every other major regulatory agency in the country does not.
In a 5-4 decision in Trump v. Cook on June 29, 2026, the Court ruled that the Fed’s Board of Governors retains its statutory “for cause” protections against presidential removal. Governor Lisa Cook, whom President Trump sought to dismiss, remains in her position pending further proceedings. The central bank’s structural independence, in other words, survived its biggest legal test in modern history.
But here’s the thing. In a companion ruling decided the same day, the Court voted 6-3 to overturn Humphrey’s Executor, a 91-year-old precedent that had shielded independent agency commissioners from at-will presidential removal. That means the heads of the FTC, SEC, and CFTC can now be fired by the president without cause.
Two rulings, two very different futures
Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the ruling was meant to prevent transforming “the Federal Reserve’s for-cause protection into at-will employment.”
