Supreme Court insulates Federal Reserve while backing Trump firing of agency leaders

The Supreme Court on Thursday strongly suggested that Federal Reserve board members would have greater protection against being fired by a president in a ruling that, for now, allows President Donald Trump to fire two members of other federal agencies' boards.

The Supreme Court in its ruling said, "We disagree" with arguments by Gwynne Wilcox and Cathy Harris that their legal challenges to their terminations "necessarily implicate the constitutionality of for-cause removal protections for members of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors or other members of the Federal Open Market Committee."

"The Federal Reserve is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United States," the majority ruling said.

Trump previously fired Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board.

A federal district court judge in Washington, D.C., had enjoined Trump from removing both women from their respective boards. An appeals court later upheld that order.

But in early April, the Supreme Court said that while the case continued, Trump did not have to reinstate the women to their boards.

That temporary order was formalized in Thursday's opinion by the high court.

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