Leaders | Shel-no

Why the Senate should reject Judy Shelton’s nomination to the Fed

It is not her views that are the problem so much as her motives

FOR MUCH of the past decade the Federal Reserve has operated without all its seven governors. Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump have struggled to find nominees whom the Senate, which must approve appointments to the Fed, finds acceptable. On February 13th, after we went to press, Mr Trump’s latest candidates for the job—Judy Shelton and Christopher Waller—were due to appear before the Senate Banking Committee for a grilling. Mr Waller, head of research at the St Louis Fed, is a perfectly good candidate. Unfortunately Ms Shelton, a former think-tanker, adviser to Mr Trump and official at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is not fit for the Fed. Whatever she says, the Senate should reject her nomination.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Shel-no”

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