Cook’s Lawsuit Puts ‘For Cause’ on Trial

Lisa Cook, who was confirmed as a Governor of the Federal Reserve in 2022, wants a federal judge to do something no court has attempted in the Fed’s 112-year history: define what “for cause” means when a president tries to fire a Fed governor.

Her lawsuit, filed Thursday after President Donald Trump threw her off the board of the Federal Reserve following allegations of mortgage fraud, asks for more than emergency reinstatement. Cook wants the court to import the Federal Trade Commission’s restrictive definition of cause— inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office —into Federal Reserve law. She wants a ruling that mortgage-form allegations from before her appointment can’t qualify as cause. And she wants a constitutional mandate f

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