Trump Begs Supreme Court to Let Him Corruptly Fire Lisa Cook
Donald Trump has made baseless accusations of mortgage fraud against the Federal Reserve governor.

President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to give him permission to fire whomever he wantsâas long as he can come up with a reason.
The Trump administration went running to the Supreme Court Thursday to back up its efforts to oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled 2â1 Monday along ideological lines to block Cookâs removal, saying that she was likely to succeed in her statutory claim that sheâd been fired without âcause,â as well as her procedural claim that she did not receive due process prior to her removal.
Trumpâs attorney John D. Sauer submitted a request to stay the preliminary injunction Thursday, arguing that Cook was not entitled to due process and that Trump has a sweeping discretion to fire whomever he wanted as long as he claimed it was related to their job.
âThe Federal Reserve Actâs broad âfor causeâ provision rules out removal for no reason at all, or for policy disagreement,â Sauer wrote. âBut so long as the President identifies a cause, the determination of âsome cause relating to the conduct, ability, fitness, or competence of the officerâ is within the Presidentâs unreviewable discretion,â Sauer wrote.
âThe Presidentâs strong concerns about the appearance of mortgage fraud, based on facially contradictory representations made to obtain mortgages by someone whose job is to set interest rates that affect Americansâ mortgages, satisfies any conception of cause,â Sauer continued.
(One might wonder if the same strong concerns would also apply to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who also made contradictory mortgage pledges, in his role shaping domestic and international economic policy.)
A federal district court had previously ruled that Trump couldnât fire Cook over unproven allegations of mortgage fraud from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulteâwhoâs made similar accusations against a number of the presidentâs enemiesâbecause it had nothing to do with her actual job. âFor causeâ typically refers to serious misconduct, or a neglect of duty.
Since Trump hit the campaign trail, the Supreme Court has been located securely in the presidentâs pocket, granting him âimmunityâ and then green-lighting move after move of his sweeping agenda when he resumed office. Despite the rulings of lower courts, itâs entirely possible this trend will continue.