Trump’s knives are out for Jerome Powell, setting up a Supreme Court showdown over the Fed’s independence


President Trump has spent the first months of his presidency in setting long -term rules, from the launch of the independent agency commissioners to intensify definitions against allies and competitors alike. But there is one line that did not cross it: the Central Bank’s head launch. This week, though, new developments have raised concerns that Trump could take an unimaginable step one day of the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s rejection.
On Thursday, Trump issued a step on the social media platform, social truth, and the bombing of the Federal Reserve Chair as is always “very late and a mistake” about reducing interest rates, adding: “Powing end can not come quickly enough!”
Meanwhile, a new report claims that Trump tells their assistants that he wants to remove Powell before the end of his term within a year. Powell said he would not resign if Trump asked. All this sets a possible legal confrontation that can increase a century of legal and political precedents – and that critics fear that he will destroy confidence in the American economy. To understand what is at stake, luck He asked the law professors and politicians about their view on an explosive case that made its way to the Supreme Court.
What is it Humphrey the port?
Trump, who came to him the latter after Powell’s speech stating that the customs tariff could exacerbate inflation, did not take official steps to reject the Federal Reserve Chairman. But he launched commissioners from other independent agencies that fall under the executive branch, including the Federal Trade Committee and the National Council for Labor Relations. These moves come as a direct challenge to the race for nearly a century, where the Supreme Court is unanimous in a case called Humphrey the port Fifth. US, He saw that President Franklin de Roosevelt was unable to remove the heads of an independent agency without a good reason, such as neglect or violations.
“This is already a precedent for the Basic Supreme Court,” said Hailey Dordogan, chief policy analyst at the American Investigation Center at the American Center for Progress. “It has been used as the backbone of many of the independent agency’s developments.”
Nevertheless, the conservative legal movement has worked for decades, as it has developed a “unified executive” theory, which claims that the president should have a wide authority over the government’s executive branch – including its various agencies.
The movement has achieved some success. In the ruling of 2020, the Supreme Court narrowed Humphrey the port By finding that the presidents can remove the heads of agencies that do not have multiple commissions, such as the Consumer Protection Office.
Oliver Deford is an older lawyer at the Levantine Pacific Foundation, which has submitted a petition to the Supreme Court to fully review Humphrey port, Partially because the agency authority, such as the Federal Trade Committee, has expanded since the original decision, allowing them to implement more executive jobs. He said luck The Supreme Court is preparing to cancel the case, saying that “President Trump may change the calculus and integration account, but I think he was definitely moving in this direction.”
Noah Rosenblin, a professor of law at New York University, is not sure, on the pretext Humphrey the port It was “an essential part of the way our government operates.”
And he told luck.
Is the Federal Reserve different?
During the first few months of his second term, Trump’s removal of a number of commissioners from various agencies a collision session with the Supreme Court. However, Joel Elisia, a law professor at the American Catholic University, argued that these moves have been consistent with a position for decades of the conservative legal movement that carries a broad authority to remove the affiliated executives. “What distinguishes the president is that he is ready to test this legal question,” said Elisia luck.
However, the launch of Powell will be a completely separate issue. According to Dunford, the issue of if the Federal Reserve should be treated like other independent agencies, such as FTC, hateful. He said: “To be completely frank, I don’t think anyone has a unified theory about the reason for the federal reserve, but we believe that there is something different from that.”
This difference can be rooted in the historical structure of the previous organizations of the Federal Reserve, the first and second banks of the United States, or the type of power carried by the Federal Reserve. However, Dunford said that even if the Supreme Court decides to turn Humphrey port, It is possible that the decision to say that it did not extend to the issue of whether the president was able to shoot the Federal Reserve Chair. Even Donford, who argued that Humphrey the port It should be turned, and he said he does not think that the Federal Reserve should be inserted.
However, Rosenblum of New York University argues that any attempts through the conservative legal movement to distinguish between the federal reserves and independent agencies were “study exercises in an attempt to invest differences.” He said that turning Humphrey the port It is possible that the independence of the federal reserve is at risk. And he told luck.
One case includes Humphrey the port I have already arrived at the Supreme Court. He runs Gwynne Wilcox, a member of NLRB, who persuaded a federal court to re -after Trump from the agency. After the Court of Appeal kept this decision, the White House turned to the Supreme Court, and asked the judges to put a re -comment so that the court has an opportunity to consider the entire arguments later this year.
Legal experts say that the Supreme Court is unlikely to issue a full decision on the NLRB case – including whether it will be transferred Humphrey the port– Before the end of its current term this summer. This means that it may take months until a final ruling is issued, although the Supreme Court can prevent Wilkox from returning to his position in a meantler.
Even if the Supreme Court uses the NLRB case to cancel Humphrey port, It is possible that it will not clear whether this ruling has extended to the federal reserve. This, of course, Trump will not prevent the launch of Powell – this only means that the legal challenges have started only. This emergency seam is likely to include Powell temporarily in his job.
Some legal scholars argued that the Supreme Court kept Humphrey the port Specifically due to fears of federal reserve independence. But with Trump now threatening to shoot Powell, Rosenbin described the possibility of “chicken returning home to cowardly.”
He said: “The Supreme Court was ready to expand the presidential authority in many areas.” “But it is clear that the Supreme Court, more than the current administration, is still concerned about the values of old laws, and it may also be concerned about destabilizing the American economy.”
This story was originally shown on Fortune.com
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2025-04-19 12:00:00