In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia ruled that Trump cannot fire Lisa Cook, a Fed Governor, before the meeting announcing the new interest rates.
Trump’s August order aiming to get rid of Cook was the first time a sitting president attempted to dismiss a governor in its 112-year history. Cook almost immediately retained council and initiated a lawsuit against the president.
Judges Bradley Garcia and Michelle Childs ruled in Cook’s favor due, in part, to her “strong likelihood of success” in arguing that she had been denied due process before being terminated.
“For that reason — and because of the myriad unique features of this case as compared to other recent challenges to presidential removals — I vote to deny the government’s emergency request for a stay pending appeal,” Garcia wrote in his concurrence, which was joined by Childs.
Kush Desai, a spokesperson from the White House, said that the administration will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, asserting that the president has the right to fire the Fed governor.
“The President lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause. The Administration will appeal this decision and looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue,” Desai said in a statement.
Trump has alleged that Cook engaged in mortgage fraud. He got that information from the social media influencer that he appointed to Housing Finance Director, Bill Pulte.
The Department of Justice is investigating that matter, but up to now, there is no evidence that Cook engaged in mortgage fraud.
Cook is not the only Black woman that the Trump DOJ has come against alleging mortgage fraud.
In August, the DOJ announced an investigation against New York Attorney General, Letitia James, who won a fraud case against Trump for the same reason.
