Overview
- The justices will hear arguments Wednesday on whether the president can remove Governor Lisa Cook for purported cause under the Federal Reserve Act.
- Lower courts kept Cook in her post, and the Supreme Court previously let her remain and characterized the Fed as uniquely insulated in its Trump v. Wilcox order.
- Trump sought to oust Cook over a mortgage-fraud claim she denies, and his Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Chair Jerome Powell over testimony on a building project.
- Critics and legal scholars say the moves aim to pressure for lower interest rates before the midterm elections and warn that easier removals could let the White House install loyalists at the Fed.
- Experts caution that politicized control could reach beyond rate decisions to emergency lending, asset purchases, bank access to Fed services, and interactions with Treasury financing.