The Supreme Court declined President Trump’s bid to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Wednesday. The court issued a two-sentence order, stating that it will hear arguments about Cook’s position in January. All former Federal Reserve chairs and former Treasury secretaries nominated by both parties had warned the court that removing Cook would undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile, the White House has withdrawn the nomination of E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni is chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation. In August, Trump tapped him to replace the previous commissioner, whom Trump fired after she published data showing weaker-than-expected job growth and downward revisions to prior jobs numbers.