Fired Copyright Office Director Sues Trump Administration Over Dismissal

Shira Perlmutter is seeking an emergency court order to block the Trump administration from installing its own officials in her place.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in Washington. Richard Moore/The Epoch Times

Shira Perlmutter, the director of the U.S. Copyright Office, filed a federal lawsuit on May 22 against President Donald Trump and top officials in his administration, arguing her recent firing was unconstitutional and must be reversed.

In the 14-page complaint, Perlmutter alleges that her May 10 dismissal—sent by email—violates federal law and the U.S. Constitution, which she says vest authority over her position in Congress, not the White House. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“The administration’s attempts to remove Ms. Perlmutter as the register of Copyrights are blatantly unlawful,” the lawsuit states. “Congress vested the Librarian of Congress—not the president—with the power to appoint and, therefore, to remove, the Register of Copyrights.”

Perlmutter is seeking an emergency court order to block the Trump administration from installing its own officials in her place and to declare that she remains the lawful register of Copyrights.

Trump also fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on May 8, just two days before removing Perlmutter. Trump then appointed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting librarian—an appointment Perlmutter argues is illegal because the Library of Congress is not an executive agency and does not fall under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

Perlmutter, who was appointed by Hayden in 2020, said Trump’s decision to install Blanche and his associates violated separation-of-powers principles and usurped Congress’s authority. She also alleged that Blanche’s designation of Department of Justice (DOJ) official Paul Perkins to take over her role has no legal basis.

Perlmutter’s lawsuit came almost two weeks after the Copyright Office released a report warning that some uses of copyrighted material to train generative AI systems may require licensing under U.S. law. The May 9 report, issued under Perlmutter’s leadership, concluded that while some AI training could qualify as “fair use,” others likely would not. A final installment of the report, which addresses AI-generated outputs, is still in progress.

The next day, on May 10, Perlmutter allegedly received a termination email from Trent Morse, deputy assistant to the president. The message said her position was “terminated effective immediately,” according to the lawsuit.

The complaint describes an alleged confrontation at the Library of Congress after the firing. It claims that two DOJ officials, sent by Blanche, attempted to access the Copyright Office to assume leadership roles. Library staff alerted the Capitol Police, who have jurisdiction over the library grounds. The officials eventually left voluntarily.

The White House and Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times before publication time. A spokesperson for the Copyright Office and Perlmutter’s attorney also declined to comment.

Responding to Hayden’s firing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was fired because she wasn’t serving the interests of American taxpayers through her advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.

“There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children,” Leavitt said in a May 9 press briefing. “She has been removed from her position, and the president is well within his rights to do that.”

Perlmutter’s legal team, which includes former U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli and advocacy group Democracy Forward, is asking the court to prevent Blanche or anyone else from exercising authority over the Copyright Office unless properly appointed by Congress.

The suit argues that the register of copyrights is a statutory position requiring independence and legislative oversight.

“The purported termination of plaintiff from her position as register of Copyrights and director of the Copyright Office by President Trump, Mr. Blanche, or any other defendant is unlawful,” the suit stated. “No defendant is lawfully the Librarian of Congress, and only the Librarian of Congress has the authority to remove plaintiff from her position.”

The case adds to ongoing legal tensions between the Trump administration and career federal officials in the wake of high-profile firings and legal challenges so far in his second term.