Legal AF by MeidasTouch - SCOTUS Rules Against Trump and Pauses His Order

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

In a stunning upset and breaking news, the Supreme Court couldn’t find 5 votes among the MAGA 6 to destroy the Federal Reserve’s independence just yet, and for now has rejected Trump’s efforts to remove Democratic-appointed Lisa Cook from the Fed Board of Governors without due process or proper reason, and will keep her in the job at least until the Court has oral argument and full briefing in January 2026 or beyond. Michael Popok explains how this ruling, although temporary, actually helps her case factually and legally. Magic Spoon: Save $5 OFF your next order when you go to http://magicspoon.com/LEGALAF Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, in breaking news and at least a preliminary win for the independence of the Federal Reserve, the Supreme Court has just ruled at a one-line order that Lisa Cook is not going to be removed from her position on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve because Donald Trump says so to destroy the independence of the Federal Reserve to give him control over interest rates ultimately because they want to have oral argument, they want to have full briefing, and they want to take up the matter in January of 2026. She stays in the job as Board of Governor member until then, which means she's going to participate in the October rate-setting meeting, the one in November and the one in December, to set interest rates in this country, which is, for now, at least, a preliminary support for the independence of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Trump won't be happy about this. Let me break it down for you here on the Midas Touch Network and on LegalAF on Michael Popock. Lisa Cook is one of seven of the seven members of the Board of Government.

of the Federal Reserve, which is our central bank, which sets monetary policy, and particularly wields one major blunt force instrument. It sets intra-bank overnight interest rates, which then cascade down through interest rate setting among banks for personal loans, mortgages, student loans, credit card debt, and all of that. It's one way for the Federal Reserve to promote jobs, keeping inflation low. Donald Trump hasn't liked the rate of interest that the Federal Reserve has charged because it is not giving enough free money into the economy to help paper over his failed economic policy. So he's tried to attack the independence of the Federal Reserve. He's done that in multitude of ways. First, he went after Jay Powell. The Federal Reserve chairperson accused him

of fraud or waste related to the building of some buildings for the Federal Reserve. When that didn't work, he turned his attention to Lisa Cook. Came up with some phony, framed allegations that she took out two loans, one for a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and one for a home in Atlanta. And she listed them both as her primary residences, presumably to get an interest rate cut. Turns out none of that is true. Didn't stop Donald Trump from effectively social media posting that she was fired, not giving her any due process. And the Supreme Court has already said in May in a case we call Wilcox v. Trump that Donald Trump cannot at will fire a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. He has to have

for cause reason, which means she's done something bad while in the job generally. He then took an appeal to the D.C. Federal Appellate Court and lost two to one. He then took an emergency appeal Trump did to the United States Supreme Court, and we've been waiting after full briefing several days ago for the ruling. The issue before the Supreme Court that they just ruled on is whether the stay that Donald Trump is seeking to remove her from her job, change the status quo, and let them litigate on a full appeal about whether he had forecause or not, whether she got to just due process or not, whether he should be allowed to. to take her out of her job right now.

And now, based on this ruling, which I'll read to you, the Supreme Court has said that she's staying in her job until at least January. This is the docket entry, and this is the entirety of it. We'll put it up on the screen. The application for stay presented to the Chief Justice, that's by Donald Trump asking for the stay of the injunction that kept her in her chair issued by Judge Cobb at the trial court level. That's been referred to the court is deferred. Pending oral argument in January 2026, the clerk of the Supreme Court is directed to establish a briefing schedule for

amicus curi. That's Friends of the court briefs. I'll talk about that in a minute. And any supplemental briefs responding to the amici. What does that mean? That means Donald Trump didn't get his stay, didn't take her out of her chair. She remains on the board of governors, which is a good thing through January in an oral argument and some ruling thereafter. We probably won't get the results of the Lisa Cook oral argument on this day until sometime in February or March of 2026. The longer she stays in the job, the better it is for her legal position, the better it is for her facts supporting her legal position, and the better it is for the American economy. And I think knowing that there doesn't seem, there weren't at least five votes, even among the maga six on the

Supreme Court to reward Donald Trump for his violating effectively their made decision not to fire Federal Reserve personnel without for cause and do it through due process. You know that nostalgic feeling of sitting at the breakfast table as a kid and pouring a giant bowl of cereal that just tasted amazing? Well, Magic Spoon has reinvented that feeling with cereal and treats that bring back the flavors you love, but in a way that actually fuels your day. Every serving of Magic Spoons, high-protein cereal, packs 13 grams of protein, zero sugar, and four grams of net carbs. And the flavors straight out of your childhood, fruity, cocoa, and frosted.

And then there are the Magic Spoon treats. Crispy, crunchy, airy, and ridiculously satisfying with 12 grams of protein in every bar. They come in mouth-watering flavors like marshmallow, chocolate peanut butter, and dark chocolate. Perfect on-the-go, pre-your-post workout, or even as late-night snack. Here's how you try them. Get $5 off your next order at magic spoon.com slash legal a.F or look for MagicSpoon on Amazon or in your nearest grocery store. That's magic spoon.com slash legal a.f for $5 off.

Donald Trump's arguments on appeal, emergency appeal, where she doesn't get due process because she's not entitled to due process, even though we're taking away 13 years remaining on her term. And whatever Donald Trump says goes as for cause. He had something for cause reason, and therefore she gets to go. If Donald Trump was successful, one vote actually gets him nine. Because if he gets the Federal Reserve majority, by getting rid of Lisa Cook, that gives him a four to three majority on the Federal Reserve. They then, the majority then fires the rest of the Federal Reserve regional presidents.

He gets 12 votes from there. And when they put together the Open Markets Committee, which sets interest rates, they take five from the regional presidents, and that'll be controlled by Donald Trump, and four, and they combine it with the seven from the Federal Reserve, and five and four is nine, nine out of 12, gives you the majority. You can set interest rates to your heart's desire, and that's what he's trying to do with Lisa Cook. Now, what's going to happen below, this case doesn't just sit around. There's a trial court judge. Her name is Gia Cobb. She has the case. She entered the preliminary injunction. She asked for additional briefing. There should be, if I'm the lawyers representing Lisa Cook, and she's being defended by Abby Lowell, a very fine lawyer. Work to supplement the record.

Do new briefing as requested by the judge. Get an additional record prepared that can be submitted on a supplemental record to the United States Supreme Court on all the information that she didn't commit mortgage fraud, on all the information that she has due process rights. that fully briefed up to within an inch of its life and get it over to the United States Supreme Court in time for the oral argument, you know, you file a motion for supplemental briefing and supplemental materials as well and supplement the record. That's what should happen. But this is a good result, folks. And this has been a bad day for Donald Trump in terms of losses. And if you go back

in the last 72 hours, he's lost several federal court cases. in which his attempts to destroy the Voice of America was blocked for his violations of First Amendment in trying to deport people that he didn't agree with was blocked with orders E.J. Antony, who Irwin Antony, who was going to be the chief economist and statistician at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, setting all of the jobs data and other data. He got pulled because they found his social media. posts that were disgusting, depraved, misogynistic, sexist, and bigoted against Kamala Harris and others, including using Nazi propaganda and attacking John McCain, of all people.

He got pulled. He's not even going to be that candidate. He's going back to the Heritage Foundation. And then his U.S. attorney in Nevada that he tried to pull in Alina Haba to get her appointed when nobody wanted her in the Senate wouldn't confirm her. She got bounced and everything she touched has turned to crap. Any indictment, any criminal prosecution in Nevada, gone. Bad week.

We'll continue to follow it here on the Midas Touch Network. And while you're here, do me a personal favor. Come over to Legal AF, the YouTube channel, sorry, hit the subscribe button, which I curate 10 new videos a day at the intersection of law and politics with detailed reporting. Then come over to Legal AF substack and do the exact same thing. People say, how can we invest in Legal AF? We don't take outside investors. but we do take subscribers and paid membership,

and that is a way to be a full, a blown card-carrying member of the legal A-F community. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of legal A-F. Me neither. That's why we form the legal A-F substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument,

come over to the substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from LegalAF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes where legal a.F on substack. Come over now to free subscribe.