The Supreme Court is nearing decisions that could shape Donald Trump’s reach over citizenship rules and the Federal Reserve, with rulings expected in the coming fortnight and the next judgment day set for Thursday. Among the cases before the court is Trump’s effort to limit birthright citizenship, alongside his attempt to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.
The timing matters because the court has only 20 cases left in its current term, a stretch that usually ends at the close of June after beginning in October. With a 6-3 conservative majority, the justices are now working through a cluster of Trump-related disputes that will show how far they are willing to go in backing his view of presidential power.
Cook is the named figure in one of those cases. Trump sought to remove her based on allegations of mortgage fraud, which she denies, but the court already refused last fall to let him immediately push her out of office. That earlier move signaled real resistance on the specific question of whether Trump could oust her on the record he presented.
At the same time, the broader picture is less tidy for Trump. The court appears likely to rule against him on birthright citizenship and on Cook, even as it seems poised to give him a wider win by endorsing his power to fire members of other hitherto independent agencies without giving a reason. That split would leave Trump with a mixed outcome from the same court that blocked his sweeping tariffs in February, after which he lashed out at justices in the majority, including two he appointed.
Birthright citizenship is the sharper constitutional fight. Trump is asking the court to reinterpret a provision in the 14th Amendment that guarantees citizenship to almost everyone born on U.S. soil, a change that would deny citizenship to babies whose parents do not have legal status in the United States or are temporary visitors. He attended the oral argument in April and then posted about the issue on Truth Social last week, underscoring how central the case has become to his broader agenda.
That is why these rulings are being watched so closely. The court has recently shown it can be receptive to removing officials at other agencies, and in September it allowed the firing of Rebecca Kelly Slaughter to take effect. It also recently moved to place Kevin Warsh in line to be the new chairman of the board at the Federal Reserve, even as the institution has long been treated as independent. The question now is not whether the court will answer Trump’s challenges, but how far it will draw the line in each one. A narrow ruling against him on birthright citizenship and Cook would still leave him with a broader victory on removal power, and that is the balance the court appears ready to strike.
