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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook | |
By Elisabeth Buchwald, Dan Berman, CNN | |
Updated: | |
9:46 AM EDT, Tue September 16, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
President Donald Trump cannot remove Lisa Cook from the Federal | |
Reserve’s Board of Governors for now, a federal appeals court said in | |
an emergency ruling Monday, just hours before the central bank’s | |
two-day monetary policy meeting was set to kick off. | |
The decision from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia | |
Circuit, split 2-1 along party lines, marks another defeat for the | |
White House’s efforts to control the Fed and economic policy. Trump | |
has sought to oust Cook , though Cook has not been charged with any | |
wrongdoing. | |
The Federal Reserve Act specifies that presidents can only fire Fed | |
governors “for cause,” and Trump has sought to leverage allegations | |
of mortgage fraud as a sufficient cause for firing. | |
“In this court, the government does not dispute that it failed to | |
provide Cook even minimal process—that is, notice of the allegation | |
against her and a meaningful opportunity to respond—before she was | |
purportedly removed,” Judges Bradley Garcia and Michelle Childs wrote | |
in their opinion. | |
“The district court issued its preliminary injunction after finding | |
that Cook is likely to succeed on two of her claims: her substantive, | |
statutory claim that she was removed without ‘cause’… and her | |
procedural claim that she did not receive sufficient process prior to | |
her removal in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth | |
Amendment,” Garcia and Childs wrote. | |
In his dissenting opinion, Judge Gregory Katsas wrote that “President | |
Trump removed Cook for cause.” | |
Cook’s attorneys did not respond to CNN’s request for comment | |
following the ruling. | |
White House spokesperson Kush Desai told CNN in a statement on Tuesday: | |
“The President lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause. The | |
Administration will appeal this decision and looks forward to ultimate | |
victory on the issue.” | |
The court’s decision comes just weeks after , who responded by suing | |
Trump based on “an unsubstantiated allegation” and that her firing | |
violated her due process rights. If Trump is ultimately successful in | |
removing Cook, it would mark the first time a Fed governor was fired by | |
a president in the central bank’s 111-year history. | |
At the same time the court ruled Trump couldn’t immediately fire | |
Cook, , Trump’s nominee to fill a separate seat on Fed’s Board, was | |
confirmed by the Senate. | |
Trump’s push to get the Fed to lower rates | |
The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates at the conclusion of | |
their two-day policy meeting this week. However, it’s an open | |
question how big the cut will be at this and upcoming meetings. | |
Meanwhile, Trump’s push to oust Cook, a Biden appointee and the first | |
Black woman to serve on the Fed’s Board, comes amid a campaign to get | |
the central bank to lower interest rates. | |
As part of that effort, Trump has tried unsuccessfully into lowering | |
rates, calling him a “numbskull,” a “major loser” and “a very | |
stupid person” . He also threatened to fire him, but more recently | |
has said he’d allow Powell to stay on until his term as chair ends in | |
May. | |
While seven out of 12 members of the Fed’s interest rate-setting | |
committee are nominated by the president and confirmed by members of | |
the Senate, the central bank for decades has functioned . | |
Trump’s attempt to fire Cook raises serious concerns about the degree | |
of independence the Fed will have moving forward. | |
“President Trump’s attempted , if allowed, would mark an immediate | |
end to that history,” Cook’s attorneys wrote in a filing on | |
Saturday. Economists have expressed similar concerns, arguing that the | |
US economy’s success has been predicated on having an independent | |
central bank, which helps instill confidence in domestic and foreign | |
investors. | |
The Fed was designed to be independent from politicians specifically so | |
it could focus on economic data – and not political considerations | |
– in achieving its dual mandate to keep price increases in check | |
while supporting the job market. | |
Politicians often prefer lower interest rates, aiming to boost stock | |
prices and make it cheaper for people to borrow money, both popular | |
moves among voters. But lower interest rates risk igniting price | |
pressures. On the other hand, leaving rates too high could overly | |
restrict spending and hiring, hurting the economy. | |
Legal hurdles remain | |
Cook and her attorneys have argued that Trump’s use of “cause” is | |
an attempt to get around a Supreme Court decision from earlier this | |
year that appeared to limit the president’s ability to remove Federal | |
Reserve governors. | |
Trump, Cook argued in court papers, wants to redefine the meaning of | |
“cause” in a way that would allow him to fire any board member | |
“with whom he disagrees about policy based on chalked up | |
allegations.” | |
“President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally redefine | |
‘cause’ – completely unmoored to caselaw, history, and tradition | |
– and conclude, without evidence, that he has found it,” Cook’s | |
attorneys wrote. | |
The Trump administration called Cook’s claims to stay on the board | |
“meritless,” adding that concerns over whether Cook misrepresented | |
her finances pose concerns as to “whether Cook can be trusted to act | |
with forthrightness, care, and disinterest in managing the U.S. money | |
supply.” | |
This story has been updated with additional context and developments. | |
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