Trump asks Supreme Court for emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from Fed board

The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court for an emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors.

The Republican administration turned to the high court after an appeals court refused to go along with ousting Ms Cook, part of US President Donald Trump’s effort to reshape the Fed’s seven-member governing board and strike a blow at its independence.

The White House campaign to unseat Ms Cook marks an unprecedented bid to reshape the Fed board, which was designed to be largely independent from day-to-day politics.

No president has fired a sitting Fed governor in the agency’s 112-year history.

Ms Cook, who was appointed to the Fed’s board by former president Joe Biden, a Democrat, has said she will not leave her post or be “bullied” by Mr Trump.

One of her lawyers, Abbe Lowell, has said she “will continue to carry out her sworn duties as a Senate-confirmed board governor”.

Separately, Senate Republicans on Monday confirmed Stephen Miran, Mr Trump’s nominee to an open spot on the Fed’s board.

Both Ms Cook and Mr Miran took part in Wednesday’s vote in which the Fed cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point.

Mr Trump sought to fire Ms Cook on August 25, but a federal judge ruled last week that the removal probably was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.

Mr Trump has accused Ms Cook of mortgage fraud because she appeared to claim two properties, in Michigan and Georgia, as “primary residences” in July 2021, before she joined the board.

Such claims can lead to a lower mortgage rate and smaller down payment than if one of them was declared as a rental property or second home.

Ms Cook has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, Ms Cook did specify that her Atlanta condo would be a “vacation home”, according to a loan estimate she obtained in May 2021.

And in a form seeking a security clearance, she described it as a “second home”.

Both documents appear to undercut the Trump administration’s claims of fraud.

US district judge Jia Cobb ruled that the administration had not satisfied a legal requirement that Fed governors can only be fired “for cause”, which she said was limited to misconduct while in office.

Ms Cook did not join the Fed’s board until 2022.

Judge Cobb also held that Mr Trump’s firing would have deprived Ms Cook of her due process, or legal right, to contest the firing.

By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the federal appeals court in Washington rejected the administration’s request to let Ms Cook’s firing proceed.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that even if the conduct occurred before her time as governor, her alleged action “indisputably calls into question Cook’s trustworthiness and whether she can be a responsible steward of the interest rates and economy”.

Mr Trump has previously won orders from the court’s conservative majority to fire the presidentially appointed leaders of other independent federal agencies, including the National Labour Relations Board and the Federal Trade Commission, even as legal fights continue.

Those firings have been at will, with no cause given.

The Supreme Court has distinguished the Federal Reserve from those other agencies, strongly suggesting that Mr Trump cannot act against Fed governors without cause.