Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, whom President Donald Trump has unprecedentedly sought to remove, can remain on the Board of Governors for now, the U.S. Supreme Court said Wednesday.
In an unsigned order, justices did not explicitly agree or deny Trump’s request; rather, they deferred the president’s emergency request to remove Cook immediately and will reconsider it in January.
That means Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a governor, can remain in her position for now, and the question about whether or not Trump has the authority to remove her will be a case this term.
Seeking to add more allies to the Fed’s Board of Governors, Trump tried to fire Cook in August, claiming she was unfit for the role because she lied on home mortgage applications.
Those accusations stem from claims made by Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who said Cook committed mortgage fraud by declaring two properties, one in Michigan and one in Georgia, as her primary residence in 2021.
Cook has denied wrongdoing and sued Trump for his attempts to remove her.
Pulte has launched similar accusations at well-known Trump opponents, including Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The Federal Reserve operates as an independent agency from the White House. Under federal law, the president cannot fire governors unless it’s “for cause” – a term that has never been officially defined but is largely interpreted to mean gross misconduct.
Already, two separate lower courts have ruled in favor of Cook, refusing to allow Trump to fire her immediately.
In September, Trump asked the Supreme Court justices to allow him to remove Cook as a Fed governor while litigation continued.
Justices have sided with the administration countless times over the last nine months, granting at least 23 of its 26 emergency requests. Among those, they’ve allowed Trump to remove people in charge of independent agencies who are typically not supposed to be removed for political reasons.
But the Supreme Court has also repeatedly emphasized the significant of the Federal Reserve’s independence.
Lawyers for Cook, former Fed members, and other economists had warned that allowing Trump to remove Cook could undermine public confidence in the Fed as well as create economic instability.
Solicitor General John Sauer had pushed back on that assertion and argued that the allegations against Cook showed enough cause for Trump to remove her.
