Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook will stay in her role for now after President Donald Trump attempted to fire her earlier this year. The Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it wants to hear oral arguments in her case in January.
The Trump administration had requested an emergency ruling to block a lower court’s order protecting Cook from dismissal after the president failed not once, but twice, to fire the first Black woman to ever serve on the Federal Reserve Board and reconfigure the central bank to his liking.
The announcement comes after the Supreme Court said on Sept. 22 that it would soon hear oral arguments in the case of Rebecca Slaughter, a commissioner with the Federal Trade Commission whom Trump fired in March. The lower courts ordered Slaughter reinstated after she sued, determining that commissioners could only be fired for neglect of duty or misconduct.
In Slaughter’s case, the justices ruled 6-3 that she could be removed without cause while her case plays out. But they still need to argue on the actual limits of the president’s authority to fire agency commissioners.
In August, Trump became the first president in American history to attempt to fire a sitting Fed board governor. He made the announcement via a letter posted to his social media platform, Truth Social, and claimed that Cook’s removal was for “cause.”
