WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court today ruled 5-4 in Trump v. Cook to formally block President Trump’s attempt to dismiss Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.  

Zack Smith, senior legal fellow and manager of The Heritage Foundation’s Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program, made the following statement:

“Today's decision is disappointing. While it is purportedly a narrow ruling that ‘the President failed to afford Cook the procedural protections to which she was entitled by statute’ before removing her, it is expansive in other ways, particularly in granting courts the authority to require Presidents to work with individuals they may no longer wish to work with.

“As Justice Thomas pointed out in his dissent, ‘the statute authorizing the President to remove Cook...says nothing about a notice or hearing,’ and yet the Court read those requirements into the statute itself. More troublingly, as Justice Thomas noted, this decision ‘upholds an injunction against the President’s removal of an executive officer for the first time in the Constitution’s 237-year history.’”