The court will hear arguments in January on the unprecedented attempt to remove a Fed official, challenging the central bank’s independence
The US Supreme Court said on Wednesday it will hear arguments in January over Donald Trump’s attempt to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, leaving her in the post for now and teeing up a major legal battle over the first-ever bid by a president to fire a Fed official as he challenges the central bank’s independence.
The justices declined to immediately decide a Justice Department request to put on hold a judge’s order temporarily blocking the Republican president from removing Cook, an appointee of Democratic former president Joe Biden.
It deferred a resolution on that request until the justices have heard the arguments.
In creating the Fed in 1913, Congress passed a law called the Federal Reserve Act that included provisions to shield the central bank from political interference, requiring governors to be removed by a president only “for cause”, though the law does not define the term nor establish procedures for removal. The law has never been tested in court.
