Lawyers for Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board, warned the Supreme Court on Thursday not to allow President Trump to immediately remove her, saying such a move would “sound the death knell for the central-bank independence.”
The administration has asked the court to permit the president to remove Ms. Cook while litigation continues over the legality of her firing. Justice Department lawyers say the president has the authority to fire her “for cause” because Mr. Trump has alleged she engaged in mortgage fraud in loan documents she signed before she joined the Fed in 2022.
Ms. Cook’s legal team forcefully pushed back on what it called “flimsy, unproven allegations of pre-office wrongdoing.” Allowing Mr. Trump to remove Ms. Cook would “eviscerate the independence” of the Fed and “ignore centuries of history, and transform the Federal Reserve into a body subservient to the president’s will,” her lawyers said in a new Supreme Court filing.
That position got a boost on Thursday from a group of the nation’s top former economic policymakers, who also urged the justices to allow Ms. Cook to remain on the job while the underlying merits of the case are under review.
The group includes the former Fed chairs Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, in addition to a long list of former Treasury secretaries, including Janet L. Yellen, who served under President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; Timothy F. Geithner, who served under President Barack Obama; and Henry M. Paulson, who served under President George W. Bush.
In their brief filed with the Supreme Court, the group said allowing Mr. Trump to remove Ms. Cook now would upset longstanding protections Congress imposed to insulate the Fed from political pressures “jeopardizing the credibility and efficacy of U.S. monetary policy.”
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The post Lisa Cook Asks Supreme Court to Remain at Fed, Calling Fraud Allegations ‘Flimsy’ appeared first on New York Times.
