The U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant President Donald Trump's emergency request for permission to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook despite accusations that she lied on applications to obtain mortgages, Breitbart reported. In its decision on Wednesday, the high court ruled that Cook will stay on until at least January, when the case will be heard by the court.
The Department of Justice filed the emergency order after a lower court issued an earlier injunction against the firing. None of the nine justices dissented from the decision, leaving Cook in place on the Board of Governors while the allegations are investigated.
Because of this, Cook will be able to vote at the October 28-29 meeting, where the Feds will set policy, including a possible cut to interest rates, and another on December 9-10. The Fed refused to slash interest rates when Trump was first elected and only backed off by half a percentage point in September.
This decision comes after Trump attempted to fire Cook in August over allegations of potential mortgage fraud, which is within his rights when it is "for cause." However, there's no explanation in the standard as to whether such conduct is enough for the president to remove her from her 14-year term as defined by law. In appealing the case to the Supreme Court, lawyers for the Trump administration argued that the Fed's "uniquely important role" in the U.S. economy only heightens the government’s and public's interest in reviewing the case.
As the New York Post reported, the allegations against Cook stem from mortgage documents allegedly claiming both her home in Massachusetts and in Atlanta were her primary homes, and an investigation by Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, allegedly found. This designation would mean a lower interest rate for the loan.
Armed with that allegation, Trump moved to fire Cook. However, Cook has denied these allegations, and later loan documents surfaced proving that Cook's 2021 home purchase in Atlanta was indeed designated as a vacation home at the time of application, thus contradicting earlier claims that she failed to disclose this fact.
Cook sued Trump, and Trump appealed the initial decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which decided the case last month in a 2-1 decision, upholding the lower court's ruling. This decision then sent the matter to the Supreme Court.
Still, the underlying accusation has yet to be adjudicated, and therefore the allegations stand as reason to dismiss her, the administration claimed. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued on Trump's behalf Thursday at the Supreme Court, citing the gravity of such claims against Cook, Fox News reported.
"Put simply, the president may reasonably determine that interest rates paid by the American people should not be set by a governor who appears to have lied about facts material to the interest rates she secured for herself — and refuses to explain the apparent misrepresentations," Sauer noted. However, a president removing a member of the Fed's board of governors is unprecedented in its 112-year history and thus will receive additional scrutiny.
In a post to X, formerly Twitter, legal expert and GOP strategist Mike Davis made the case that firing Cook is a straightforward decision within the president's rights. "The Supreme Court blinked," Davis charged before explaining his theory that Cook indeed committed mortgage fraud based on Pulte's initial investigation and therefore deserves to be fired.
"Lisa Cook is one of the seven governors on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Among other tasks, the Fed 'conducts the nation’s monetary policy, promotes financial system stability, [and] supervises and regulates financial institutions.' 'The Federal Reserve is committed to upholding the highest ethical principles to strengthen public confidence in the impartiality of its decision-making processes,'" Davis cited as a standard.
"There is clear evidence that Lisa Cook committed mortgage fraud when she lied about her principal residence to secure a lower interest rate. Even if Lisa Cook fraudulently secured this mortgage before her current Fed appointment, she is still benefiting from the lower interest rate each month. (Did she pay off the mortgage before she started?) President Trump fired her for cause under the relevant statute," Davis contends.
The Supreme Court blinked.
Lisa Cook is one of the seven governors on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Among other tasks, the Fed "conducts the nation’s monetary policy, promotes financial system stability, [and] supervises and regulates financial… pic.twitter.com/sh5dNy9fGq
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) October 1, 2025
Without a clear indication one way or the other that Cook lied on her mortgage application, it should at least be within Trump's purview to suspend her from the board while investigations proceed if not outright fire her. There's a case to be made for safeguards against political interference, but this is a serious accusation that should disqualify Cook from the board if true.
