Appeals Court Lets Fed Governor Lisa Cook Stay — For Now

A three-judge appellate panel ruled in favor of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook on Monday, allowing her to continue to serve as her legal battle with President Donald Trump continues.

Trump last week asked a federal appeals court to temporarily block a lower court’s Sept. 9 injunction preventing him from firing Cook while her lawsuit challenging her dismissal proceeds. The president moved to fire Cook in August after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte accused her of committing mortgage fraud, prompting a Department of Justice investigation. 

The ruling comes just a day before the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting, where the interest-rate setting committee, on which Cook serves, is widely expected to trim rates by a quarter point. Trump, however, has continued to press for more significant cuts. (RELATED: How Jerome Powell Played Biden’s Climate Games While Inflation Ran Rampant)

In a concurring opinion, Judge Bradley Garcia, joined by Judge Michelle Childs, wrote that Cook is likely to prevail in her claim that Trump’s attempt to remove her infringed on her due process rights.

“Given that Cook has a property interest in her position, she is entitled to ‘some kind’ of process before removal,” Garcia wrote. “Before this court, the government does not dispute that it provided Cook no meaningful notice or opportunity to respond to the allegations against her. The government argues only that Cook ‘does not explain what difference a hearing would have made.’ Even accepting that premise, Cook’s entitlement to process stands apart from whether she would succeed in securing a different outcome.”

The Trump administration is expected to ask the Supreme Court to intervene. 

Pulte has accused Cook, who was nominated in 2022 by former President Joe Biden, of signing separate documents in which she allegedly said that both an Atlanta property and a home in Ann Arbor, Mich., were “primary residences.” The Trump administration argues that these allegations provide “sufficient cause” for her removal. 

“The Federal Reserve has tremendous responsibility for setting interest rates and regulating reserve and member banks. The American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump wrote in a letter notifying Cook of her removal. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity. At a minimum, the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.” 

On Monday evening, the Senate confirmed Stephen Miran, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, to replace Adriana Kugler, who stepped down in August, bringing the number of Trump-appointed governors on the Federal Reserve Board to three.

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