Overview
- The justices will hear arguments Wednesday on whether to let President Trump remove Lisa Cook and whether to keep a lower-court order that temporarily returned her to the Federal Reserve Board.
- Judge Jia Cobb reinstated Cook after finding she was entitled to due process and that firing should relate to conduct in office, and an appeals court let that order stand pending Supreme Court review.
- Trump cites alleged false statements on mortgage applications as cause for removal, allegations Cook denies, while the Justice Department argues the statute requires cause but no specific notice or hearing.
- Former Fed chairs Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the Court to protect central bank independence, as experts warn the case could guide efforts to remove other governors.
- The hearing follows a prior Court opinion describing the Fed as uniquely structured compared with other agencies and comes as the Justice Department separately investigates Chair Jerome Powell.