WASHINGTON – The two people with the most at stake in how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on whether President Donald Trump can legally fire a Federal Reserve governor sat through two hours of arguments on Wednesday over what constitutes “cause” for dismissal and other issues critical to the future of the central bank’s independence.
Fed Gov. Lisa Cook, whose firing Trump announced in a social media post in last August over unproven allegations of mortgage fraud, was joined in ?the court’s ornate chamber by central bank Chair Jerome Powell, a notable show of support for his junior colleague even as Trump’s Justice ?Department targets him ?in a separate criminal investigation.
Powell defied a warning from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent not to attend, even ?though Bessent attended Supreme Court arguments over Trump’s tariffs last November.
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