Overview

• Lower courts have kept Cook in her post, with a Washington judge issuing a temporary hold and an appeals court rejecting the president’s challenge this week.
• Justice Department lawyers filed an emergency application asking the justices to suspend those decisions, and the White House separately urged a stay.
• A federal judge wrote that a president may remove a Fed governor only for cause and said the public interest in the central bank’s independence favors Cook’s reinstatement.
• Trump cited alleged false statements on one or more mortgage documents as his rationale for removal, claims Cook denies as she argues the president lacks authority to fire her.
• Cook, appointed to the Fed board in 2022 and the first Black woman to hold the seat, remains in litigation as the case becomes a key test of statutory protections for the Fed.