The Supreme Court signaled skepticism Wednesday over President Donald Trump’s effort to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve, with several conservative justices joining the court’s liberal bloc in raising fundamental questions about the administration’s position.
“What goes around comes around,” conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh told US Solicitor General D. John Sauer, pointing to the possibility of a future president’s ability to fire Trump nominees based on “cause” that might be “trivial or inconsequential or old allegations that are very difficult to disprove.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, another conservative, also appeared to take issue with the administration’s position that Cook was not entitled to a hearing to answer Trump’s allegations against her. The administration has alleged Cook committed mortgage fraud by reporting two different homes as her primary residence. Cook has denied wrongdoing.
“Why are you afraid of a hearing?” Justice Amy Coney Barrett pressed Sauer at one point.
To be sure, several of the same justices — including Barrett — asked difficult questions of Cook’s attorney, Paul Clement. And some seemed to have reservations with how lower courts had resolved the case. But the tenor of the questions for Sauer appeared to be both more aggressive and more aimed at the administration’s fundamental arguments.
The high court is being asked, on an emergency basis, to decide if Trump can fire Cook in the meantime, while her case continues. Notably, the court has already allowed Cook to remain in her post while it prepared for arguments Wednesday.
Arguments ended just after noon.