Trump officials ask supreme court to allow firing of top copyright official | Trump administration
The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to fire the director of the US Copyright Office.
The administration’s latest emergency appeal to the high court was filed a month and a half after a federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the official, Shira Perlmutter, could not be fired unilaterally.
Nearly four weeks ago, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals refused to reconsider that decision.
This case is the latest concerning Donald Trump’s power to install his own collaborators at the head of federal agencies. The Supreme Court largely allowed Trump to fire public officials, even as legal challenges continued.
But this case concerns an office located within the Library of Congress. Perlmutter is the Registrar of Copyrights and also advises Congress on copyright issues.
Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in his filing Monday that despite its ties to Congress, the registry “exercises executive authority” in regulating copyrights.
Perlmutter claims Trump fired her in May because he disapproved of advice she gave to Congress in a report on artificial intelligence. Perlmutter had received an email from the White House informing him that “your position as Director of the Registry of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately,” his office said.
A divided appeals panel ruled that Perlmutter could keep his job while the case proceeded.
“The executive branch’s alleged blatant interference in the work of a legislative branch official, while she is exercising statutorily authorized functions of advising Congress, appears to us to be a violation of the separation of powers that is materially different in nature and degree from the cases that were heard,” Justice Florence Pan wrote for the appeals court. Justice J Michelle Childs joined the opinion. Democratic President Joe Biden appointed the two judges to the appeals court.
Justice Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, wrote in dissent that Perlmutter “exercises executive power in a variety of ways.”
Perlmutter’s lawyers argued that she is a renowned copyright expert. She has served as Registrar of Copyrights since Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden appointed her to the position in October 2020.
Trump nominated Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to replace Hayden at the Library of Congress. The White House fired Hayden amid criticism from conservatives that she was pushing a “woke” agenda.
