Lisa Cook’s ascension to the Federal Reserve was historic from the start.
Appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2022, she became the first Black woman to serve as a Fed board governor, the seven-member panel that sets national interest rates and oversees the banking system.
Now, she stands at the center of another historic moment, as President Donald Trump attempts to fire her — a move the Federal Reserve has never faced in its 112-year history.
Cook’s legal fight traces back to late August, when Trump said he was firing her from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
He alleged she misrepresented information tied to a trio of mortgages she obtained before joining the central bank. Cook has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.
She sued Trump in federal court in Washington, D.C., to block her removal. On Sept. 9, a district court judge barred Trump from firing her while the case proceeds, a decision later upheld by a federal appeals court.
Before joining the Fed board, the Oxford alumna and UC Berkeley–trained economist built a career in academia, including faculty roles at Harvard University and Michigan State University.
A graduate of Spelman College, Cook has been described by American economist Barry Eichengreen as ‘part economist and historian,’ with command of several languages, including French, Russian, Spanish and Wolof — a widely spoken language in Senegal.
Cook has also held senior roles in government, serving as a senior economist on then-President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2011 to 2012.
Before that, she served as a senior adviser on finance and development in the Treasury Department’s Office of International Affairs.
She joined the Fed board in May 2022 and was reappointed in September 2023 for a term that runs through January 2038, a tenure now under scrutiny as the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments Wednesday.
The court is expected to issue a ruling by this summer.