The Supreme Court has ruled against former President Donald Trump's effort to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, preserving long-standing protections for the independence of the central bank. Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Fed's seven-member board, had sued Trump to block her dismissal.
Trump alleged that Cook misrepresented information related to mortgages she obtained before joining the Federal Reserve. Cook has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. She filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., to prevent her removal. A district court judge initially barred Trump from firing her while the case proceeded, a decision later upheld by a federal appeals court.
Cook's appointment to the Federal Reserve in May 2022 was historic. The Board of Governors sets national interest rates and oversees the U.S. banking system. Cook was reappointed in September 2023 for a term running through January 2038.
Before her tenure at the Fed, Cook held academic positions at Harvard University and Michigan State University. She is an Oxford alumna and a UC Berkeley-trained economist. Cook also served in government roles, including as a senior economist on President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2011 to 2012 and as a senior adviser in the Treasury Department’s Office of International Affairs.