Comcast Dumps NBCUniversal & SCOTUS Protects Fed’s Independence…For Now

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Neal Freyman** (0:33)
Good Morning Brew Daily Show. I'm Neal Freyman.

**Toby Howell** (0:36)
And I'm Toby Howell.

**Neal Freyman** (0:37)
Today, the Supreme Court protects Fed independence for now.

**Toby Howell** (0:41)
Then Nike miscalculated America's World Cup fever and it's running out of jerseys. It's Tuesday, June 30th. Let's ride.

**Neal Freyman** (1:00)
Good morning. Well, you made it. Today is the last day of the first half of 2026 Time to hit the locker room, throw some ice on some of the problem areas, and make a game plan to start the third quarter with a bang. Toby, I honestly don't remember my New Year's resolutions, so that means I haven't failed to live up to them.

**Toby Howell** (1:17)
I mean, we often ask each other, was it a fast week or a slow week? Now I'm asking you, fast half or slow half, Neal?

**Neal Freyman** (1:25)
I think it was a fast half of the year. I mean, it always is, but I forget who won the Superbowl.

**Toby Howell** (1:30)
I would say it's lightning fast. It's the saying, the days are long, but the years are short. I am definitely starting to feel that, looking forward to what the next half of the year brings over, under, on straight of Hormuz mentions in the back half of the year.

**Neal Freyman** (1:45)
I hope for the world economy and everyone's sanity, I hope it's under. This episode is brought to you by On Investing, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. It's hosted by Liz Ann Saunders, Schwab's Chief Investment Strategist, and Colin Martin, Head of Fixed Income Research and Strategy for the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

**Toby Howell** (2:02)
Each week, Liz Ann, Colin, and their guests analyze economic developments and bring context to conversations around stocks, fixed income, the economy, and more. You can download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com/oninvesting or wherever you get your podcasts.

**Neal Freyman** (2:18)
So last year, President Trump attempted to fire two government officials, Fed Governor Lisa Cook and FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, whose pushback landed their cases in the Supreme Court. Yesterday, the justices handed down their decisions. Trump could fire Slaughter, but he couldn't get rid of Cook, for now.
In one of the two major decisions over presidential power, the Supreme Court agreed with Trump that presidents have the ability to fire members of federal agencies like Slaughter at the FTC, who carry out functions under the executive branch. The dramatic ruling strikes down a 90-year-old precedent as Humphrey's executor that sought to protect agency leaders from political influence. So that was a big win for Trump and really any future president who wants to bend the federal bureaucracy to their will. However, Trump suffered a loss against Lisa Cook, a Fed governor whom he fired last year over unsubstantiated allegations of mortgage fraud. In this case, the Fed allowed Cook to remain in her role while litigation continued, saying that out of all the agencies in the federal government, the Federal Reserve was the special child. It had to be protected from political influence and must remain independent so as to preserve faith in American financial markets. Toby, a one-one draw for Trump on a historic day of decisions at the Supreme Court.

**Toby Howell** (3:34)
Yeah, and the Supreme Court justices knew the stakes of what they were doing here because in the majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Rappers, he said not only the fact of independence but also the appearance of independence is key to the Federal Reserve's design. So they were reading outside the lines a little bit here, even though that they were ruling on this specific case. And that's why I think one of the biggest winners here is Chair Kevin Warsh. He is newly in the position, obviously, and so this Supreme Court ruling reinforces that he's got that independence backstop at his back. Because remember, I mean, Jerome Powell was under immense pressure from Trump, immense pressure to try to change interest rates. This gives Warsh a little bit of breathing room as kind of the new guy on the job.

**Neal Freyman** (4:18)
So the Fed is protected, and we should say it was a narrow ruling. The Supreme Court said that basically Lisa Cook did not have the opportunity to respond to the allegations, which is why they kind of punted down the road this particular decision. They didn't say forever and ever the president cannot fire any member of the Federal Reserve. Just in this case, narrowly, that Cook did not have the opportunity to respond and push back and that's why they're protecting her while litigation continued. They're protecting the Fed, but when it comes to the rest of the Federal bureaucracy, they're saying this falls under the executive branch and the president can do whatever they want to fire particular members. And this is a sprawling Federal bureaucracy. It's the alphabet soup of what they talk about when it comes to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Postal Service, the National Labor Relations Board.