On the second-to-last day of the Supreme Court term, justices handed Donald Trump a major victory, though the day also brought several notable defeats. Beneath the headline ruling on executive power, the court signaled that the current president may not always achieve his objectives, highlighting unexpected alliances among the nine justices.
Nearly 100 years after ruling that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt lacked unchecked power to remove regulatory commissioners, the court scrapped that precedent on Monday. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that subordinates exercising presidential power must be subject to removal to maintain accountability to the president and the public. All six conservative justices voted in favor, including three appointed by Trump, while the three liberal justices dissented. This decision grants Trump and future presidents the power to replace regulators across various agencies, a trend Trump celebrated on Truth Social as a significant increase in presidential authority.
Despite this, the court limited Trump’s reach when he attempted to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. In a narrow five-to-four ruling, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the three liberal justices to block the move. Trump had alleged mortgage fraud, but the court ruled that Cook deserved the chance to challenge his accusations. Roberts emphasized the potential calamities that could arise if a president were permitted to impose their will on the central bank.
In another setback, the court ruled against the president regarding the counting of mail-in ballots received after election day. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, wrote the majority opinion joined by Chief Justice Roberts and the three liberal justices. She asserted that states have the constitutional power to manage election procedures, effectively dismissing the president’s fraud concerns. This follows a high-profile greeting between Trump and Chief Justice Roberts in March 2025.
Furthermore, buried within 28 pages of court orders, the justices declined to hear an appeal regarding a $5 million civil judgment against Trump. This case involved a 2023 jury finding that Trump defamed E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine writer who accused him of sexual assault in a 1990s department store incident. Trump vowed to continue fighting, though this effectively ends his efforts to block the $5 million penalty, distinct from his plans to appeal a separate $83.3 million damage finding.
