In a move that cuts to the core of America’s financial stability, Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let him do something no president has ever done in the Federal Reserve’s 111-year history—fire a sitting Fed governor.
The Justice Department, echoing Trump’s expansive view of executive authority, urged the justices to lift a lower court’s order that temporarily blocks him from removing Lisa Cook, an appointee of Joe Biden and the first Black woman to serve on the central bank’s Board of Governors.
Cook, who has denied Trump’s allegations of mortgage fraud, remains at her post after a federal judge ruled that the charges—linked to events before she entered office—don’t qualify as grounds for dismissal under the 1913 law that created the Fed. That law allows removal only “for cause,” a phrase left deliberately vague but never once tested in court.
Trump, however, insists the Constitution gives him the power to act. His filing bristled with defiance: “This case is yet another example of improper judicial interference with the President’s authority to remove officials for cause.”
The clash comes at a delicate moment for the Fed, which just this week voted to cut interest rates by a quarter-point to steady a cooling job market. Cook herself supported the cut—one more reason, her lawyers argue, that Trump wants her gone. To them, the president’s real motive isn’t mortgage paperwork but her stance on monetary policy.
The stakes are immense. If Trump succeeds, it would shatter the long-guarded independence of the central bank, an institution designed to stand above politics. Investors and economists alike warn that a politically captured Fed could send shockwaves through global markets.
Trump has never hidden his disdain for central bankers who resist his demands. He has blasted Fed Chair Jerome Powell as a “moron” and “incompetent,” pushing for deeper rate cuts to juice the economy. The bid to fire Cook now escalates that campaign into an unprecedented legal fight.
So far, the courts have slowed him down. A federal appeals panel this week sided with Cook, ruling she was denied due process and that past conduct cannot be used as grounds for removal. Yet Trump’s team insists he gave her notice and a chance to respond before declaring her unfit.
Adding further heat, Trump’s Justice Department has launched a criminal probe into Cook’s mortgage dealings, issuing subpoenas in Georgia and Michigan. Documents reviewed suggest some of the allegations may not hold water, but that hasn’t stopped the White House from pressing its case.
With the Supreme Court holding a 6-3 conservative tilt and having repeatedly backed Trump in earlier emergency fights, the stage is set for another high-stakes showdown. At its heart lies a question never before answered: Can a president fire a Fed governor and bend the central bank closer to political will, or will the justices preserve the fragile wall of independence that shields U.S. monetary policy?
