President Trump’s firings at the Federal Reserve and other agencies with traditional independence from the political forces of the White House have presented the Supreme Court with a critical opportunity to settle weighty questions over the bounds of presidential power.

Pressure was already building after the administration this month urged the justices to take up Trump’s firing of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member without cause, even if it means overruling the high court’s 90-year-old precedent that has enabled protections for some regulators.

Although the conservative majority has endorsed Trump’s project so far, the justices have signaled the Fed may exist in a category of its own.

Trump put it to the test on Thursday by bringing his firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud accusations to the high court.

Together, the appeals pose a critical test to Trump’s expansive control over all reaches of the government, which he has used to enact his sweeping second-term agenda.

“The Supreme Court is supporting the President's muscular way of running the federal government, and it seems that he can do whatever he wants to do with respect to these agencies,” said Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University.

The Supreme Court has already greenlit Trump’s efforts to fire several independent agency leaders without cause as their legal challenges proceed.

In May, the court did so for Trump’s firings at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Merit Systems Protection Board........

© The Hill