The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, reports the AP. The administration turned to the high court after an appeals court refused to go along with ousting Cook, part of President Trump's effort to reshape the Fed's seven-member governing board and strike a blow at its independence. The White House campaign to unseat Cook marks an unprecedented bid to reshape the Fed board. No president has fired a sitting Fed governor in the agency's 112-year history.
Cook, who was appointed to the Fed's board by former President Biden, has said she won't leave her post and won't be "bullied" by Trump. Trump sought to fire Cook on Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled last week that the removal probably was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed's board. Trump has accused Cook of mortgage fraud because she appeared to claim two properties, in Michigan and Georgia, as "primary residences" in July 2021, before she joined the board. US District Judge Jia Cobb ruled that the administration hadn't satisfied a legal requirement that Fed governors can only be fired "for cause," which she said was limited to misconduct while in office. Cook didn't join the Fed's board until 2022.
Trump's lawyers have argued that even if the conduct occurred before her time as governor, her alleged action "indisputably calls into question Cook's trustworthiness and whether she can be a responsible steward of the interest rates and economy." Trump has previously won orders from the court's conservative majority to fire the presidentially appointed leaders of other independent federal agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Trade Commission, even as legal fights continue. Those firings have been at will, with no cause given. The Supreme Court has distinguished the Federal Reserve from those other agencies, strongly suggesting that Trump can't act against Fed governors without cause.
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