The Trump administration is appealing a judge’s ruling that blocks President Donald Trump from removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb said Trump could not remove Cook while her lawsuit opposing her removal is pending, indicating she believed Cook would prevail, according to Reuters.
Cobb was appointed in 2021 by former President Joe Biden.
The Department of Justice filed a notice that it would appeal Cobb’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The Trump administration had noted, even before Cobb’s ruling, that it wanted Cobb to make a fast decision “so that appellate relief can be secured, if necessary, before the Federal Reserve’s next meeting on September 16, 2025.”
Lisa Cook should be banned from the Federal Reserve’s upcoming meeting after a Trump official got her “dead to rights” on allegations of mortgage fraud, former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow told @mirandadevine on “Pod Force One.” Subscribe here: https://t.co/yTgZwccd8a pic.twitter.com/2fVi1mfRZU
— New York Post (@nypost) September 10, 2025
Trump has been trying to remove Cook, alleging that she committed mortgage fraud.
Fox News reported that White House representative Kush Desai said Trump “lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause due to credible allegations of mortgage fraud from her highly sensitive position overseeing financial institutions on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.”
???? BREAKING: Biden Judge Jia Cobb has BLOCKED President Trump from firing Lisa Cook, arguing that literal MORTGAGE FRAUD is probably not “cause” for firing a Federal Reserve Governor
DEI judges are DESTROYING America. We HAVE to find a way to remove them.
The Fed is apparently… pic.twitter.com/EPHJRjA6D3
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 10, 2025
“This ruling will not be the last say on the matter, and the Trump Administration will continue to work to restore accountability and confidence in the Fed,” Desai said, according to CNBC.
In giving Cobb a preliminary injunction to allow her to remain a governor, Cobb wrote, “The public interest in Federal Reserve independence weighs in favor of Cook’s reinstatement.”
“Cook has made a strong showing that her purported removal was done in violation of the Federal Reserve Act’s ‘for cause’ provision,” Cobb wrote.
Cobb said that federal rules that allow a governor to be removed only cover “behavior in office,” Cook wrote.
″‘For cause’ thus does not contemplate removing an individual purely for conduct that occurred before they began in office,” Cobb wrote.
The judge was referring to allegations of mortgage fraud by Cook that Trump cited for firing her.
The case is expected to eventually make its way to the Supreme Court, because it is the first effort by a president to fire a Fed governor for an alleged cause.
Trump said he was firing Cook on Aug. 25 over allegations raised by one of his appointees that she committed mortgage fraud. https://t.co/LVFzF0qhGz
— KARE 11 (@kare11) September 10, 2025
“We need people that are 100% above board and it doesn’t seem like she was,” Trump said in August when he announced he wanted to oust Cook, according to the BBC.
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