Supreme Court balks at Trump’s push to control the Fed

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—Supreme Court justices across the ideological spectrum expressed deep unease on Wednesday about President Trump’s attempt to fire a member of the Federal Reserve, with several stressing the importance of a central bank insulated from political pressure. Their comments during nearly two hours of oral arguments signaled that the court will likely allow Fed board member Lisa Cook to remain in the job while her legal challenge to her dismissal proceeds in the lower courts.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, highlighted the long history and economic impetus of shielding monetary policy from White House control. The Trump administration’s claims of broad and unreviewable firing authority “would weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve," Kavanaugh warned. And he cautioned that such a broad power would pass to other presidents, allowing a future Democrat to dismiss anyone Trump appoints to the Fed during the remainder of his term.

“Thinking big picture, what goes around comes around," Kavanaugh said. “History is a pretty good guide. Once these tools are unleashed, they are used by both sides." The Supreme Court’s skepticism toward Trump’s bid to oust Cook is a shift for its conservative majority, which in recent months has largely allowed the president to swiftly fire board members of other historically independent agencies in the executive branch.

But even in those rulings, the court has signaled that it views the Fed as occupying a unique place in the government ecosystem. And on Wednesday, the justices reiterated that view, saying the financial markets and the public need confidence in the Fed’s decisions. “Congress had decided that this particular