By Jan Wolfe and Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to let him move ahead with firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook – a move without precedent since the central bank’s founding in 1913 – in a legal battle that imperils the Fed’s independence.

The Justice Department asked the justices to lift U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb’s September 9 order temporarily blocking the Republican president from removing Cook, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden. Cobb ruled that Trump’s claims that Cook committed mortgage fraud before taking office, which Cook denies, likely were not sufficient grounds for removal under the law that created the Fed.

“This application involves yet another case of improper j

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