US Supreme Court delivers two setbacks to Trump

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against President Donald Trump’s attempt to change voting rules. In a decision delivered Monday, it upheld state laws allowing mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they arrive within five days after Election Day and bear a postmark from that day or earlier.

The case concerns a Mississippi law but has nationwide effects in a territory whose vast geography means that in some areas, voting by mail is the only way to participate in the democratic process. The decision was decided 5-4 (the three liberal justices, plus the chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr., and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom Trump appointed, voted in favor). The other four members of the conservative supermajority voted against it.

Trump’s obsession with mail-in votes, which he casts as one of the great ills of democracy, has a long history: in 2020, his insistence on questioning mail-in votes was one of the pillars of his theory about election fraud by the Democrats. That hoax led to the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and to this day the president insists he won that election.

Fed Governor Lisa Cook

Also on Monday, the Supreme Court for now blocked the White House’s attempt to dismiss Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The court’s decision, delivered by a conservative majority, states that the president did not demonstrate “for cause” in his attempt to remove Cook over alleged mortgage fraud, and that she has not been given a chance yet to refute those claims. The court said she was entitled to a chance to respond, and could not be immediately removed while that process is underway.

President Donald Trump tried to remove Cook last summer, in the midst of a campaign to undermine the Fed’s independence in order to force more aggressive rate cuts. The Republican president also harassed and intimidated Jerome Powell, the institution’s former chair, and attempted to have him prosecuted. Ultimately, after Powell’s term ended in May, Trump succeeded in replacing him with Kevin Warsh. Although Powell stepped down as chair of the Federal Reserve, he chose to remain as one of the institution’s seven governors amid uncertainty over whether the White House would revive the removal proceedings.

Cook, appointed by Biden, also remains on the board. She is regarded as being on the hawkish side, prioritizing price stability and the fight against inflation over job creation. She is the first Black woman to hold a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. When Trump used legal loopholes to try to dismiss her, she defied the president: “I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet,” she said after Trump posted an unsigned dismissal letter on social media, bypassing all official procedures.

Cook, 62, is at the center of the first case in the institution’s history in which a president has tried to fire a governor. The U.S. president sought to seize the central bank to control monetary policy and lower interest rates — a move that would boost the economy in the short term, just in time for the crucial midterm elections in November. But it would also be a strategy that could trigger a market shock, lay the groundwork for a return of inflation and lead to higher rates in the long term.

Last August, Trump accused Cook of mortgage irregularities. The case concerns two mortgage applications — one for a home in Michigan and another for an apartment in Atlanta — both described as primary residences, which would have enabled her to obtain better financial terms. Reporting by Reuters and NBC debunked the alleged irregularities and showed that the Atlanta apartment was registered as a “vacation home.”

Despite that, Trump ordered Cook’s dismissal. The Department of Justice sought Cook’s suspension while the case was resolved in Washington state courts, and it appealed to the Supreme Court to back the removal.

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