Nina Totenberg

Doing so would almost certainly help his party in this year's elections.

But the Fed was established 112 years ago as an independent entity in order to insulate it from political pressure and to protect the country from rampant inflation.

that often results from lowering interest rates too quickly.

Frustrated by the Fed's caution, Trump tried to fire board member Lisa Cook and clearly has the Fed chairman Jerome Powell in his sights, even though he picked Powell as the Fed chair in 2018.

Today, the Supreme Court hears arguments as to whether the president has that power or whether the law protecting the Fed should remain intact.

Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

Last August, President Trump tried to fire economist Lisa Cook, appointed to the Fed by President Biden.

But the court allowed Cook to remain in office while her case is litigated.

Today at the Supreme Court, President Trump's lawyers will try to frame the case narrowly, alleging that Trump is removing Cook for cause, namely that she falsified documents to obtain loans on two different properties.

She denies any wrongdoing whatsoever, but the Trump administration maintains that once the president has determined he has cause to fire a Fed board member, that decision is not reviewable by any court.

That's a big caveat.

that essentially would hand Trump and future presidents unrestricted power to replace Fed board members with their personal picks.

Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

Despite what most people think, nobody except Supreme Court personnel has any idea what cases are going to be announced on opinion days.

And today was no exception.

Despite the drumroll of tariff predictions, the justices delivered three decisions in relatively obscure procedural cases today.

And with only oral arguments scheduled for tomorrow, after that, the court is not expected back on the bench until February 23rd, as the coming month is the midterm break reserved for justices to work on writing opinions in outstanding cases.

Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

Transgender participation in sports is extremely rare, but the rhetoric around the issue has proved very helpful for President Trump in his most recent presidential campaign, which aired an anti-trans ad 15,000 times, putting many Democrats on the defensive.

Indeed, more than half the states have enacted laws banning transgender participation in sports.