The US Supreme Court has allowed Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now, declining to act on the Trump administration’s effort to immediately remove her from the central bank.
In a brief unsigned order, the high court said it would hear arguments in January over Republican President Donald Trump’s effort to force Ms Cook off the Fed board.
The court will consider whether to block a lower-court ruling in Ms Cook’s favour while her challenge to her firing by Mr Trump continues.
Separately, the justices are hearing arguments in December in a separate but related legal fight over Mr Trump’s actions to fire members of the boards that oversee other independent federal agencies.
The case concerns whether Mr Trump can fire those officials at will.
But a second issue in the case could bear directly on Ms Cook’s fate: whether federal judges have the authority to prevent the firings or instead may only order back pay for officials who were wrongly dismissed.
Ms Cook was appointed to her job by former Democratic president Joe Biden.
