Ex-Fed chairs urge Supreme Court to keep Cook on Fed board

A coalition of former Federal Reserve chairs and top economic officials urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow Fed Governor Lisa Cook to remain in her post while litigation over President Donald Trump's effort to remove her proceeds, warning that immediate ouster would threaten the central bank's independence and erode public confidence in U.S. monetary policy. The appeal by prominent bipartisan figures came as justices consider an emergency request from the administration to overturn lower-court orders keeping Cook on the Board of Governors.

Former Fed chairs Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen, together with several former Treasury secretaries and other senior economic advisers, filed a brief saying that removing Cook now would expose the Federal Reserve to political influence and jeopardize its credibility and efficacy. The brief argued that preserving the status quo serves the public interest by safeguarding the long-standing protections Congress built into the Fed to insulate monetary policy from partisan pressures.

The dispute began on August 25 when Mr. Trump announced he was firing Cook, citing allegations of mortgage fraud relating to loan documents from...