After a federal court ruled that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her position, the Trump administration asked a federal appeals court to overturn that ruling.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb blocked the firing on Tuesday, concluding that the president “has not established legally permissible cause for Cook’s removal.” Under federal law, Federal Reserve board members serve 14-year terms and can only be removed “for cause.” Now, the Trump administration has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. Circuit to put that ruling on hold while the government appeals it. The Justice Department argued that the president has broad discretion to remove federal officials, including in deciding whether “good cause” exists, and that courts have, at most, extremely limited authority to review those decisions. “In this case, the evidence, for which Cook has not yet offered a counter-explanation, was that he took out two loans for his personal benefit and managed to obtain favorable interest rates by misrepresenting his place of residence,” the government argued. “Regardless of whether such misconduct occurred before or during his tenure, it indisputably calls into question Cook’s reliability and ability to responsibly manage interest rates and the entire nation’s economy.” Those allegations emerged in a letter from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee, who subpoenaed mortgage documents for homes Cook bought in Georgia and Michigan in 2021. Abbe Lowell, a lawyer representing Cook, called the administration’s allegations “baseless and vague.” The administration requested that the appeals court act by the end of the day Monday, noting that the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, is scheduled to meet Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cook’s attorneys asked the appeals court to reject the Trump administration’s request, calling it “wholly unjustified.”

“An administrative stay would threaten Governor Cook’s participation in next week’s meeting and could cause chaos in the FOMC vote,” Cook’s attorneys wrote in court filings. “Furthermore, it has the real potential to impact domestic and international markets. The Administration has not justified such a serious disruption.”