Ex-Fed, Treasury Chiefs Urge Supreme Court to Protect Cook

A bipartisan group of former Fed chairs — including Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen — along with ex-Treasury secretaries and former White House economists filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to allow Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to remain on the Fed Board while her lawsuit challenging President Trump’s unprecedented attempt to fire her proceeds. They warned that immediately ousting Cook would undermine the Fed’s long-standing independence, erode public confidence, and jeopardize the credibility and efficacy of U.S. monetary policy. The administration alleges mortgage fraud tied to two properties, which Cook denies; a district judge found the firing likely unlawful and an appeals court declined an emergency request to remove her before the Fed’s recent policy meeting. Cook participated in that meeting and voted in favor of a one-quarter percentage-point rate cut; the administration has appealed the case to the Supreme Court. The brief’s signatories — spanning Republican and Democratic appointees such as Henry Paulson, Lawrence Summers, Jack Lew, Tim Geithner and Robert Rubin — underscore bipartisan concern about politicizing the central bank.