WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's unprecedented bid to reshape the Federal Reserve board is putting the Supreme Court in a familiar position, weighing an emergency appeal from the president’s lawyers in a politically charged case.The court is hearing arguments Wednesday over Trump's effort to oust Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook based on allegations she committed mortgage fraud, which she denies.No president has fired a sitting Fed governor in the agency’s 112-year history.The true motivation, Trump's critics say, is the Republican president's desire to wrest control of U.S.interest rate policy.
Trump wants interest rates to fall sharply so the government can borrow more cheaply and Americans can pay lower borrowing costs for new homes, cars or other large purchases, as worries about high costs have soured some voters on his economic management.Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the board cut a key interest rate three times in a row in the last four months of 2025, but that's more slowly than Trump wants.The Fed also suggested it may leave rates unchanged in coming months, concerned about triggering higher inflation.Powell is expected to be in attendance when the justices take up an emergency plea from the Trump administration to be allowed to remove Cook from her job while her challenge to the firing plays out in court.
Judges on lower courts have allowed her to remain in her post as one of seven central bank governors.If Trump could name someone to take Cook's place, he would have four of his appointees on the seven-member board.Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s governing board, was appointed in 2022 by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.The justices are being asked to effectively bless Trump's effort to undermine the Fed's independence, said Columbia University law professor Lev Menand, who has joined a brief in support of Cook.“This case is about much more than Cook,” Menand said.
“It’s about whether President T...