Former President Trump's Administration Asks High Court Permission to Fire Leading Copyright Director
The former president's government on Monday petitioned the US Supreme Court to permit the removal of the director of the US Copyright Office.
This urgent request follows about a month and a half after a federal appellate court in Washington ruled that the director, Shira Perlmutter, cannot be unilaterally dismissed.
Nearly four weeks prior, the entire District of Columbia appeals court refused to review that decision.
This legal matter is the latest in a line of cases concerning executive power to appoint preferred heads at government offices.
The Supreme Court has mostly allowed such dismissals, even as court challenges continue.
However, this specific matter involves an office within the national library. Perlmutter serves as the copyright registrar and also counsels Congress on intellectual property matters.
The solicitor general, D John Sauer, argued in the legal document that, regardless of connections to Congress, the register “exercises administrative power” in overseeing intellectual property rights.
Perlmutter alleges she was fired in May because the former president disapproved with recommendations she gave to Congress in a report concerning artificial intelligence.
She reportedly received an email from the administration notifying her that her position was “ended effective immediately,” according to her staff.
A divided appeals court panel decided that Perlmutter could retain her position while the legal dispute proceeds.
“The administration's alleged obvious interference with the duties of a congressional official, as she carries out statutorily authorized duties to advise Congress, appears to be a breach of the separation of powers,” wrote Judge Florence Pan for the appeals court.
Judge J Michelle Childs joined the opinion. Both judges were appointed to the appellate court by Democratic President Joe Biden.
In opposition, Justice Justin Walker, a former president's nominee, wrote that Perlmutter “exercises executive power in a host of ways.”
Perlmutter's attorneys have argued that she is a well-known intellectual property specialist. She has acted as register of copyrights since former head librarian Carla Hayden selected her to the position in October 2020.
The ex-leader named deputy attorney general Todd Blanche to succeed Hayden at the Library of Congress. The White House had dismissed Hayden amid criticism from right-leaning groups that she was advancing a “woke” agenda.
