Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook urged the Supreme Court Thursday to reject President Trump’s effort to fire her, arguing it would harm central bank independence and disrupt financial markets.
“Granting the President’s request for immediate relief to alter the status quo would sound the death knell for the central-bank independence that has helped make the United States’ economy the strongest in the world,” Cook’s lawyers argued in a new filing.
There needs to be some “meaningful check” on the president’s ability to remove Cook, they added, noting that otherwise “any president could remove any governor based on any charge of wrongdoing, however flawed.”
The filing was a response to the Justice Department’s Sept. 18 emergency request to lift a federal judge’s order that blocked Trump from immediately removing Cook for mortgage fraud allegations.
Cook’s lawyers also made the argument that if the Supreme Court sides with Trump, it could have “dire repercussions” for financial markets while risking “chaos and disruption.”
It could even raise the possibility that another governor would be confirmed during the pending litigation, the lawyers said, requiring a court to decide between two Fed governors for the same seat.
Earlier on Thursday, a list of former Fed chairs that included Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court advocating for Cook.
The former Fed chairs argued that “allowing the government to remove a member of the Board of Governors for the first time in the Nation’s history, while under the cloud of legal challenge, will erode public confidence in the Fed’s independence and threaten the long-term stability of our economy.”
The fight in the nation’s highest court comes after US District Judge Jia Cobb on Sept. 9 blocked Trump from firing Cook, saying that the alleged mortgage fraud allegations do not meet the Federal Reserve Act’s “for cause” clause needed to remove a central bank official.
The White House appealed that ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. But in a 2-1 ruling on Sept. 15 that request was also rejected.
Cook participated in the Fed’s policy meeting last week, voting to lower rates by 25 basis points.
