A judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump on Tuesday night from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

The ruling likely means Cook can participate in the Federal Open Market Committee’s next meeting Sept. 16 and 17, to set the interest rate.

Under the Federal Reserve Act, the president can remove a Fed governor for cause – though the threshold of cause is open to interpretation. Typically, “for cause” firings have involved inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance. However, Trump has asserted that allegations of mortgage fraud against Cook – for which no charges have been filed – are sufficient.

“The best reading of the ‘for cause’ provision is that the bases for removal of a member of the Board of Governors are limited to grounds concerning a Governor’s behavior in office and whether they have been faithfully and effectively executing their statutory duties,” Judge Jia Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote Tuesday. “Removal was not meant to be based on the President’s assumptions about the official’s future performance as extrapolated from unproven conduct dating from before they assumed the office.”

The mortgage issue in question occurred in 2021 – before Cook was confirmed to the Fed board.

Cook’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, had argued that the Fed governor’s firing was a thinly veiled pretext, and that Trump’s motive for removing her was that she disagreed with the president’s oft-repeated desire to lower interest rates.

“This ruling recognizes and reaffirms the importance of safeguarding the independence of the Federal Reserve from illegal political interference,” Lowell said in a statement Tuesday. “Allowing the president to unlawfully remove Governor Cook on unsubstantiated and vague allegations would endanger the stability of our financial system and undermine the rule of law.”

The Justice Department, which has argued for Trump in the case, said it doesn’t “comment on current or prospective litigation including matters that may be an investigation.” The DOJ will likely appeal the ruling.

FOMC members voted 9-2 in July to keep the rate steady, though Fed Chair Jerome Powell last month primed the market for a potential decrease.

A Fed spokesperson declined to comment on Tuesday’s ruling.

The White House also did not comment, and Trump had not reacted to the ruling on Truth Social by Wednesday morning.