US Justice Department urges SC to allow firing of Federal Governor Lisa Cook

Washington, Sep 19 (IANS) The US Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to put US President Donald Trump's firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook into effect.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in an application that the lower court's decisions "flout many strands of this Court's precedents," local media reported Thursday.

The application may spark a high-stake battle at the Supreme Court over the independence of the Fed, Xinhua news agency reported.

Trump fired Cook on August 25 over alleged mortgage fraud. Cook denied any wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Washington, D.C. on August 28. A judge ruled on September 9, temporarily blocking Trump's removal of Cook.

The Trump administration then took the case to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ahead of the Fed meeting, but the court rejected Trump's bid to remove Cook on Monday, just hours before the Fed's two-day meeting kicked off.

Cook participated in the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday, and joined the majority in voting for a quarter-point cut.

Being an appointee of former US President Joe Biden, Cook has served on the Fed since being appointed to complete another member's unexpired term in 2022, and her current term would run until 2038.

Cook, who made history as the first Black woman to serve as a Federal Reserve governor, filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump in August, challenging his attempt to remove her from office. She argues that the reasons cited by Trump were legally insufficient and served merely as a pretext to oust her due to disagreements over monetary policy.

In a filing submitted on Thursday, the Justice Department stated that as long as a president cites a cause for removal, that decision falls within the scope of his "unreviewable discretion."

--IANS

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