Fed faces key week of decisions with membership, political independence in doubt

By Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Reserve holds its latest policy meeting this week with a historic challenge to its leadership pending in the courts and a rushed effort underway to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill an open seat on the central bank’s Board of Governors.

The Fed is confronting a potentially intense pace of change between Trump’s attempted firing of Governor Lisa Cook and the Senate’s move to approve his nominee for a separate open seat. The move against Cook is both a first-of-its-kind test of the Fed’s independence but also potentially disruptive to how the central bank is perceived on global markets.

In an institution known for staid and technocratic debate over complex issues, it’s currently not even clear who wil