Since taking office, President Donald Trump has faced seemingly countless court challenges to his attempts to exercise executive authority, but as is generally the case, he is once again fighting back.

As Just the News reports, it was announced this week that the Trump administration filed an appeal of a U.S. district judge’s decision temporarily blocking the president’s firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

Administration pursues appeal

It was late on Tuesday that Judge Jia Cobb issued a decision blocking Trump’s action dismissing Cook from her role due to allegations that she committed mortgage fraud, opining, “The public interest in Federal Reserve independence weighs in favor of Cook’s reinstatement. That independence is critical in helping the  nation’s banking system to promote stability.”

By Wednesday, the administration announced its decision to appeal that ruling, with the Trump Justice Department filing a brief notice with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

As Reuters noted, the president revealed his decision to fire Cook from her Fed position at the end of August, and a DOJ filing from last week indicated the administration’s hope that Cobb would rule swiftly so that “appellate relief could be secured, if necessary” ahead of the next meeting of the board on which she sits, a gathering slated for Sept. 16.

Cobb’s Tuesday ruling is not a conclusive determination on the merits, but it does stop the Fed from acting in accordance with the firing until final resolution of the claims at issue is achieved.

In the wake of the block on Cook’s firing, White House spokesperson Kush Desai reinforced the administration’s belief in the president’s justification for the personnel decision and declared, “...this ruling will not be the last say on the matter.”

Fraud claims spur legal battle

As Fox News noted late last month, the allegations at the heart of Cook’s firing relate to claims leveled by Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

According to Pulte, Cook designated two different properties in two different states as her principal place of residence, misrepresenting their status in order to secure favorable loan and tax treatment.

Those claims prompted Trump’s conclusion that he had “sufficient cause” pursuant to the requirements of the Federal Reserve Act (FRA) to fire Cook, a determination with which the Fed governor and her attorneys quickly took issue.

Cook has asserted that the dismissal was nothing more than a pretext for Trump to engineer a majority at the Fed board with the ultimate goal of securing the interest rate reductions that have proved elusive under Fed chair Jerome Powell.

The DOJ, however, contends that the invocation of the “for cause” language in the FRA is subject to presidential discretion, regardless of whether anyone else believes it is “pretextual” in nature.

What comes next?

Notably, Cook has never concretely disputed the facts of the fraud allegations Pulte referred to the DOJ, with additional evidence of financial shenanigans related to an Ann Arbor, Michigan property recently coming to light that, for many, casts serious doubt about her suitability for a job with such significant influence over the American economy.

The country now waits and watches to see whether Cook will face charges over what Pulte seems to believe is clear evidence of fraud, and though her Fed job appears safe for the moment, whether that remains the case for much longer is still an open question.