The indications from the Supreme Court today were that Fed Governor Lisa Cook will stay in her job, at least until the case can be fully decided at some point by July. And it’s increasing looking like she will be able to stay on the job for her full 14-year term, which runs until 2038, should she wish.
Trump has attempted to fire her during a mortgage fraud investigation after some documents from before she was a governor showed her listing two properties as a primary resident. Her legal team argues that it was inadvertent and inconsequential.
Arguments were attended by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell today and lasted for two hours, in a case that’s assuredly part of an effort by Trump to stack the Fed with allies who will cut rates when he sees fit.
In a sense of how badly this one is going for the White House, Justice Samuel Alito expressed skepticism. He’s the same judge who flew an American flag upside down at his house along with MAGA flags in January 2021 as Trump reluctantly left office.
He said the administration had handled the case “in a very cursory manner” and asked if the mortgage applications were even entered into the record in the case.
“There’s a million hard questions in this case,” Alito said.
Another conservative — Brett Kavanaugh also pushed back.
“Your position,” Kavanaugh told Sauer, “that there’s no judicial review,
no process required, no remedy available, very low bar for cause that
the president alone determines – I mean, that would weaken, if not
shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve.”
Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts also seemed to indicate that even if the mortgage argument constituted cause, that it might not hold up because it could be an “inadvertent mistake contradicted by other documents in the record.”
