Powell to attend Supreme Court arguments on Trump attempt to fire Fed governor
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is expected to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court Wednesday in a case tied to President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire a Fed governor, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Fox News Digital.
The Associated Press was first to report the development.
At the heart of the case is whether Trump can fire Lisa Cook, who was appointed to the board of governors in 2022 by former President Joe Biden.
Trump argues he has broad authority to remove Cook from her leadership role at the central bank without judicial review, with his administration alleging she committed private mortgage fraud.
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Cook has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Fox News previously reported that oral arguments will be conducted by the nine justices, who will hear separately from lawyers representing Cook and the Justice Department.
Trump contends that, as the elected head of government, federal law grants him unqualified discretion to fire any member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors or the Federal Open Market Committee "for cause."
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Cook is expected to tell the high court that Congress created the Federal Reserve in 1913 as an independent body, shielded from political pressure and presidential interference.
Cook, the first Black woman to sit on the board of governors, argues she has been made into a political pawn in Trump’s public efforts to influence the Federal Reserve’s economic policies, relying on what she calls "manufactured charges" of wrongdoing.
Powell, too, has faced public pressure from Trump who has called for the central bank to more aggressively lower interest rates. In a video statement released in mid-January, he said the Justice Department served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, describing the move as a threat of criminal indictment related to his June testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.
The testimony focused in part on a multi-year, $2.5 billion project to renovate two Federal Reserve office buildings: the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building and the 1951 Constitution Avenue Building.
Powell said the Justice Department’s "new threat" was a "pretext" unrelated to his Senate testimony or the renovation project.
"The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President," he said. "This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions—or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation."
Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report.