Monday, giving him a major victory on presidential power while rejecting or limiting him in three other high-profile cases.
In the biggest ruling, the court’s conservative majority expanded presidential authority over independent federal regulators. The justices overturned nearly 90 years of precedent that had limited a president’s ability to remove officials from agencies designed to operate with some independence from the White House.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that officials who exercise presidential power must remain accountable to the president. The decision gives Trump and future presidents broader power to remove and replace regulators across agencies overseeing areas such as trade, labour, elections, communications, finance and environmental policy.
Trump celebrated the ruling on Truth Social, saying it “greatly” increased presidential power.
But the court did not side with him in every case. In a separate ruling, Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s three liberal justices to block Trump’s attempt to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Trump had accused Cook of mortgage fraud, but the majority said she must have a chance to challenge the allegations before being removed.
The court also rejected Trump’s position on mail-in ballots. A majority ruled that states may count ballots postmarked by election day but received afterward, saying states have broad constitutional authority over election procedures. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined Roberts and the liberal justices in that decision.
Trump suffered another setback when the court declined to hear his appeal of the $5 million civil judgment won by writer E. Jean Carroll. A jury previously found Trump liable for defamation after Carroll accused him of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. The court’s refusal likely ends Trump’s effort to overturn that judgment, though a separate $83.3 million damages award remains under appeal.
The rulings showed both the strength and limits of Trump’s position at the Supreme Court. He won a major expansion of presidential control over federal agencies, but the justices also pushed back on his efforts involving the Federal Reserve, election rules and the Carroll case.
