Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking to block the president’s attempt to fire her in a legal battle that could redefine the independence of the US central bank.
Cook’s lawyers are asking a federal court for an emergency injunction to “confirm her status” as a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors and prevent her removal.
“The President’s effort to terminate a Senate-confirmed Federal Reserve Board member is a broadside attack on the century-old independence of the Federal Reserve System,” her attorney, Abbe David Lowell, wrote in court filings.
The case assigned to Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden is scheduled for a hearing Friday. Most observers expect the dispute to eventually reach the Supreme Court.
No president has ever tried to fire a Fed governor until Trump announced Cook’s dismissal in a letter posted on social media Monday night. He cited allegations of mortgage fraud dating back to 2021, before Cook’s Senate confirmation. Cook has not been charged with any crime, and the lawsuit dismisses the claims as “unsubstantiated” and a pretext for Trump to fill her seat with an ally willing to back his push for lower interest rates.
“The unsubstantiated and unproven allegation that Governor Cook ‘potentially’ erred in filling out a mortgage form, does not amount to ‘cause,’” the lawsuit said.
If successful, Trump could secure a majority on the seven-member board, reshaping Fed policy at a time when interest rates remain a contentious issue. The Fed’s key rate is currently at 4.3% after a sharp cut last year, but Trump has said he wants it slashed to 1.3% a move mainstream economists warn could fuel inflation.
Peter Conti-Brown, a University of Pennsylvania professor and Fed historian, warned of the high stakes. “If Cook wins, she stays in place and we achieve some semblance of stability. If she loses, that’s the end of Fed independence as it has been constructed and reconstructed over 112 years.”
Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, is a Marshall Scholar with degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College. Before her 2022 confirmation, she taught at Michigan State University and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Her suit also names Fed Chair Jerome Powell and asks the court to prevent the central bank from recognizing her removal. Powell, while not commenting on the case, has signaled that the Fed is preparing to cut rates again at its September 16–17 meeting, though more slowly than Trump wants.
Lowell, in his filing, accused Trump of attempting to “circumvent Congress to bend the institution to his will.”
“History provides no sanction for an attempt to short-circuit ‘for cause’ removal protections by conjuring up unfounded allegations of past wrongdoing,” he wrote.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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