Lower courts recently ruled the president lacked legal authority to fire Cook.
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Sept. 18 to grant an emergency order ousting Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, from her post.
President Donald Trump alleges that Cook committed mortgage fraud related to two properties she purchased before joining the Fed.
The White House says the fraud allegations—which Cook denies—are serious enough that the president is allowed to fire Cook.
Trump fired Cook on Aug. 25, the first time a president has ever moved to end the tenure of a Fed board member, citing his authority under the Federal Reserve Act. He said in a letter posted online that he determined there was “sufficient reason to believe [she] may have made false statements on one or more mortgage documents.”
The letter stated that William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, made a criminal referral on Aug. 15 about the mortgage allegations to Attorney General Pam Bondi. A criminal referral is a formal recommendation by a government official to another to investigate or prosecute alleged criminal activity.
The referral states that Cook signed a document verifying that a property in Michigan would be her primary residence for the next year, but two weeks later, she signed another document saying a Georgia property would be her primary residence for that year, according to Trump’s letter.
“It is inconceivable that you were not aware of your first commitment when making the second. It is impossible that you intended to honor both,” Trump told Cook in the letter.
“At a minimum, the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.”
On Sept. 15, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2–1 to uphold a lower court’s preliminary injunction preventing Cook’s removal from the Fed board while pending litigation plays out.
Trump had appealed a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb of the District of Columbia issued on Sept. 9.
The injunction temporarily blocked the president from removing Cook from office while the lawsuit over her termination continued.
