Nick Timiraos

I am going to pick somebody who will do what I want on interest rates.

So how does that unfold?

There is never a dull moment on this beat right now.

Well, the arguments today were unusual because they focused a lot on sort of technical elements of Lisa Cook's dismissal.

So the president attempted to fire Cook in August.

He did it in a letter that he posted on his Truth Social social media account.

So that was something the president's attorney was asked about today, was the nature with which you did this dismissal.

satisfying what the law says, you can fire somebody for cause.

Was Lisa Cook given a chance to defend herself?

Was she given a hearing?

Should she have been given a hearing?

Well, the legal analysts that I spoke with after the hearing thought the justices sounded inclined to let Lisa Cook stay in her job, at least while her broader legal challenge plays out.

So this has all unfolded on what's known as the emergency docket or kind of an expedited process.

And so at a minimum, even if Lisa Cook ultimately loses her case, it sounds like she has another year or two left.

before you would get there because they just weren't inclined to rule against her at this moment.

The most skeptical questions were targeted towards the Solicitor General, the Trump administration's envoy at the Supreme Court.

Brett Kavanaugh asked him about

concerns around independence in the Fed and what is to stop a Democratic president in 2029 or 2033 from doing exactly what Donald Trump has done here.

And so you could see concerns at kind of a policy level, what this would mean for an interest rate policy in the markets.

Thanks for having me.