The Supreme Court on Wednesday announced that it will hear oral arguments in January on a request from the Trump administration to allow the president to fire Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. In a brief, unsigned order, the justices delayed their decision on the administration’s plea to pause a ruling by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that keeps Cook in office despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to remove her from the board.
The dispute is the latest chapter in an ongoing battle over the president’s power to remove the heads of independent federal agencies created by Congress. Under federal law, members of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate to serve staggered 14-year terms, a design intended to prevent any one president from “stacking the deck” with his own nominees. They can also only be removed “for cause” – a term that the Federal Reserve Act does not define.