WASHINGTON (VINnews) — A federal judge on Friday quashed subpoenas issued by the Justice Department targeting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying the government provided “essentially zero evidence” of wrongdoing.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote that the subpoenas appeared intended to pressure Powell into lowering interest rates or resigning. “The justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual,” Boasberg wrote in the unsealed opinion.

The decision comes amid heightened scrutiny of the Fed’s monetary policy and signals a rebuke of the Justice Department’s effort to compel testimony from the central bank’s top official.