Trump officials ask supreme court to allow firing of top copyright official

The Trump administration on Monday asked the supreme court to allow it to fire the director of the US Copyright Office.

The administration’s newest emergency appeal to the high court was filed a month and a half after a federal appeals court in Washington held that the official, Shira Perlmutter, could not be unilaterally fired.

Nearly four weeks ago, the full District of Columbia circuit court of appeals refused to reconsider that ruling.

The case is the latest that relates to Donald Trump’s authority to install his own people at the head of federal agencies. The supreme court has largely allowed Trump to fire officials, even as court challenges proceed.

But this case concerns an office that is within the Library of Congress. Perlmutter is the register of copyrights and also advises Congress on copyright issues.

Solicitor general D John Sauer wrote in his filing on Monday that despite the ties to Congress, the register “wields executive power” in regulating copyrights.

Perlmutter claims Trump fired her in May because he disapproved of advice she gave to Congress in a report related to artificial intelligence. Perlmutter had received an email from the White House notifying her that “your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the US Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately”, her office said.

A divided appellate panel ruled that Perlmutter could keep her job while the case moves forward.

“The executive’s alleged blatant interference with the work of a legislative branch official, as she performs statutorily authorized duties to advise Congress, strikes us as a violation of the separation of powers that is significantly different in kind and in degree from the cases that have come before,” Judge Florence Pan wrote for the appeals court. Judge J Michelle Childs joined the opinion. Democratic president Joe Biden appointed both judges to the appeals court.

Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, wrote in dissent that Perlmutter “exercises executive power in a host of ways”.

Perlmutter’s attorneys have argued that she is a renowned copyright expert. She has served as register of copyrights since then librarian of Congress Carla Hayden appointed her to the job in October 2020.

Trump appointed 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 advancing a “woke” agenda.