Fed Chair Powell plans to attend tomorrow's Supreme Court arguments over Trump's attempt to fire governor Lisa Cook—the first time any president has tried to remove a Fed official in the central bank's 112-year history. The case is about far more than one official's job. It could determine whether a president can remake the Fed's board at will. https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/jerome-powell-federal-reserve-supreme-court-de15b2d1?st=AiYnem&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink • The court's conservative majority spent years gradually eroding the independence of regulatory agencies. Now they must decide whether to make an exception for the Fed. • Fed independence has rested on three guardrails: the courts, the Senate, and the markets. So far, markets have barely reacted. Senate Republicans have shown little appetite to confront Trump. "If Cook loses, then I do not have confidence in these other guardrails," said Penn historian Peter Conti-Brown. "This is the one that will create real barriers." • At its core, the case is about who controls the money supply. "This debate has been going on in the United States since before we had the United States," said Gary Richardson, the Fed's former historian. "This case is designed to give the Supreme Court a chance to change who decides monetary policy."(Nick Timiraos)