BREAKING: Federal Reserve Board Member fired by Trump, Lisa Cook, files suit against Trump & Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

[In It to Win It]

Josh Gerstein
‪@joshgerstein.bsky.social‬

BREAKING: Federal Reserve Board Member fired by Trump, Lisa Cook, files suit against Trump & Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Doc: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26078054-cooktrumpcomp082825/

BREAKING: Federal Reserve Board Member fired by Trump, Lisa Cook, files suit against Trump & Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T13:36:56.907Z

JUST IN: Fed reserve board member Lisa Cook's lawsuit challenging Trump's bid to fire her is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee in DC. Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T14:21:20.175Z

The suit argues: (1) Trump didn't have cause for firing Cook (as required by the Federal Reserve Act); (2) Cook didn't get notice & a hearing (as required by the Federal Reserve Act); & (3) Cook didn't get notice & a hearing (as required by the Due Process Clause).

— Leah Litman (@leahlitman.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T13:45:59.214Z

[Passages]

1. Excellent response.

[UTUSN]

2. Why POWELL?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Deadline: Legal Blog--Lisa Cook files suit against Trump's 'unprecedented and illegal' bid to fire her from Fed

Cook’s lawyers said Trump’s “unsubstantiated allegation” doesn’t satisfy the legal standard to remove her from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

“NOT SO FAST…..”
Lisa Cook files suit against Trump’s ‘unprecedented and illegal’ bid to fire her from Fed.
www.msnbc.com/deadline-whi...

— Colonel Curmudgeon 🇺🇸🇺🇦🎖️ (@smokedoyster.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T16:09:49.120Z

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/lisa-cook-trump-firing-lawsuit-federal-governor-rcna227729

Lisa Cook has filed her lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s attempt to remove her from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. In her federal court complaint, Cook’s lawyers called Trump’s move “unprecedented and illegal,” arguing that his “unsubstantiated allegation” of mortgage fraud doesn’t meet the legal requirement of showing cause to remove her.

In the complaint filed Thursday in Washington, D.C., they cite the Federal Reserve Act’s mandate that presidents can only remove board members “for cause” prior to the expiration of their term. Cook’s term expires in 2038. She was nominated by then-President Joe Biden......

Her complaint highlights the significance of how that test is resolved. “The operational independence of the Federal Reserve is vital to its ability to make sound economic decisions, free from the political pressures of an election cycle,” her lawyers wrote, warning that “f markets and the public believe that the central bank is making decisions based on political pressure rather than sound economic data, that confidence erodes.”

The next step in Cook’s case could come quickly. Her lawyers moved for a temporary restraining order and requested an emergency hearing. “Without emergency relief,” they wrote, “[federal government] Defendants are now likely to allow an unexpired vacancy to occur for which President Trump has indicated he is ready to fill.”

Here is a link to the complaint https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.284270/gov.uscourts.dcd.284270.1.0_17.pdf

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Judge COBB has set a 10am hearing for *tomorrow* on the emergency bid by Lisa Cook to remain in her job at the Fed.

JUST IN: Judge COBB has set a 10am hearing for *tomorrow* on the emergency bid by Lisa Cook to remain in her job at the Fed.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney.bsky.social) 2025-08-28T16:27:49.514Z