President Donald Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to let him move ahead with firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook—a move without precedent since the central bank's founding in 1913—in a legal battle that imperils the Fed's independence.
The Justice Department asked the justices to lift U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb's September 9 order temporarily blocking the Republican president from removing Cook, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden. Cobb ruled that Trump's claims that Cook committed mortgage fraud before taking office, which Cook denies, likely were not sufficient grounds for removal under the law that created the Fed.
"This application involves yet another case of improper judicial interference with the President's removal authority—here, interference with the President's authority to remove members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for cause," the Justice Department said in the filing.
Cook took part in the Fed's highly anticipated two-day meeting in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday in which the central bank decided to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, as policymakers responded to concerns about weakness in the job market. Cook was among those voting in favor of the cut announced on Wednesday.
Read more from Jan Wolfe and Andrew Chung.
