A federal judge has invalidated subpoenas the Justice Department served on the Federal Reserve Board that had sought material related to Chair Jerome Powell, finding the action to be improperly motivated rather than grounded in a credible criminal investigation.
Judge James Boasberg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, signed an order quashing the subpoenas. The government had described the requests as part of an inquiry into the management of the Federal Reserve's renovation work.
In his written decision, Boasberg said the record contained "a mountain of evidence" indicating the subpoenas were issued to exert pressure on the Board and its chair - either to influence Powell to vote for lower interest rates or to force his resignation. The judge added that the government presented "essentially zero evidence" suggesting Powell had committed a crime, and that the explanations the government offered were so thin and unsubstantiated that the court concluded they were pretextual.
The court's order explicitly found the subpoenas were issued for an improper purpose, nullifying the Justice Department's requests for documents from Board officials.
Powell has previously said that the possibility of an indictment was connected to his June testimony before the Senate, in which he discussed the renovation of Federal Reserve office buildings. The Department of Justice had framed the subpoenas as related to an investigation of how that renovation was managed.
The ruling places the subpoenas back in the legal discard pile and formalizes the court's conclusion that the government's stated rationale did not withstand judicial scrutiny. The decision centers on the court's assessment of motive and the sufficiency of evidence presented by prosecutors, rather than on an exhaustive factual finding about the renovation itself.
Legal observers will likely note the order's focus on intent and evidentiary support: the judge's language emphasizes that the government's justifications were insufficient and that the subpoenas appeared to serve a different purpose than the one asserted in pleadings.
Clear summary
A federal judge threw out Justice Department subpoenas seeking records from the Federal Reserve Board tied to Chair Jerome Powell, concluding the subpoenas were likely meant to pressure Powell on policy or to prompt his resignation. The court said prosecutors offered virtually no evidence of criminal conduct and that the government's stated reasons were unsubstantiated. Powell has linked the threatened indictment to his Senate testimony in June about the Fed's office renovations.