Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Supreme Court Lets Lisa Cook Stay On Fed Board Until At Least January

Brookings Institution/Creative Commons/Flickr

The Supreme Court will allow Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to remain on the board for now.

The justices will consider the Trump administration’s request to remove her during oral arguments in January, according to the court’s order.

The Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to block her reinstatement to the board by District Court Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee, in September. President Donald Trump fired Cook over mortgage fraud allegations in August.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court will allow Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to remain on the board for now.

Oral arguments to consider President Trump’s effort to fire her will be in January. pic.twitter.com/0MF4hy0Ud8

— Katelynn Richardson (@katesrichardson) October 1, 2025

“That the Federal Reserve Board plays a uniquely important role in the American economy only heightens the government’s and the public’s interest in ensuring that an ethically compromised member does not continue wielding its vast powers,” the administration wrote in its application. “Put simply, the President may reasonably determine that interest rates paid by the American people should not be set by a Governor who appears to have lied about facts material to the interest rates she secured for herself and refuses to explain the apparent misrepresentations.”

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Bill Pulte referred Cook to the Department of Justice in August, prompting the opening of a probe. Pulte alleged she “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms” by naming properties in both Michigan and Georgia as her primary residence.

Cook has denied that she committed fraud. She challenged her removal in a lawsuit soon after Trump’s decision, which she called “unprecedented and illegal.”

“President Trump’s conception of ’cause’ has no limiting principle,” her lawsuit states. “It would allow him to remove any Federal Reserve Board member with whom he disagrees about policy based on chalked up allegations.”

Under the Federal Reserve Act, the president can remove a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors only “for cause.” Trump argues he demonstrated sufficient cause.

“Even if Cook’s acts reflect gross negligence, the President expressly determined that her lack of care in making important financial representations provides sufficient cause for her removal because it ‘calls into question [her] competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator,'” the administration’s application states.

The Federal Reserve announced a quarter-point interest rate cut in September, the first cut of the year.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.