Despite some significant losses for former President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court's recent term ultimately enhanced presidential power. The court ruled against Trump in three major areas he had pushed: his global tariffs, his attempts to limit birthright citizenship, and his effort to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. In the tariffs case, a 6-3 majority ruled that an emergency powers law does not allow a president to bypass Congress for such actions, a tactic no previous president had attempted. Similarly, six justices ruled against his executive order to limit birthright citizenship, finding he had overstepped, although four justices expressed a willingness to consider such restrictions for children born to undocumented or temporary residents.
Regarding Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, Trump's attempt to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud (which she denies) was blocked by the Supreme Court. The court ruled 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority opinion, that Cook can remain in her job while legal challenges to her removal proceed. This decision preserved the independence of the Federal Reserve, an agency that appears to remain beyond a president's at-will firing power, unlike many other independent regulatory bodies.
However, in a significant win for Trump that dramatically expanded presidential power, the court overturned a 90-year-old precedent in a 6-3 decision in Trump v. Slaughter. This ruling allows the president to fire leaders of most independent regulatory agencies without cause, giving him effective control over these bodies. This decision enables the reshaping of agencies previously designed to operate independently and could potentially affect lower-level federal workers in future decisions. The Supreme Court also largely upheld Trump's immigration crackdown and allowed his partisan redistricting efforts to move forward, while significantly weakening the Voting Rights Act.
