BBC :
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook has sued President Donald Trump over his attempt to fire her, setting up a potential legal battle with implications for the US central bank’s autonomy.
Cook has asked the court to declare Trump’s firing order “unlawful and void”, and also named Fed Chairman Jerome Powell as defendant.
Trump has said there was “sufficient reason” to believe Cook had made false statements on her mortgage, and cited constitutional powers which he said allowed him to remove her. Cook previously said that “no cause exists under the law” to sack her.
The president has put increasing pressure on the Fed over what he sees as an unwillingness to lower interest rates. Cook is part of the board responsible for setting interest rates in the US.
Thursday’s lawsuit is likely to bring up a number of legal challenges that could end up at the US Supreme Court.
“This case challenges President Trump’s unprecedented and illegal attempt to remove Governor Cook from her position which, if allowed to occur, would be the first of its kind in the Board’s history,” Abbe Lowell, Cook’s attorney, wrote in the lawsuit.
“It would subvert the Federal Reserve Act which explicitly requires a showing of ’cause’ for a Governor’s removal, which an unsubstantiated allegation about private mortgage applications submitted by Governor Cook prior to her Senate confirmation is not,” Lowell wrote.
