Fired Copyright Office Head Shira Perlmutter Sues Trump Administration Over ‘Blatantly Unlawful’ Dismissal

Axed Copyright Office head Shira Perlmutter is suing the Trump administration over her “blatantly unlawful” dismissal – and seeking, among other things, a court order allowing her to remain in the post.

Perlmutter submitted that straightforward complaint yesterday, after she was fired as Register of Copyrights earlier in May. One component of a wider Library of Congress and Copyright Office showdown – more on this in a moment – Perlmutter’s ordered exit arrived days following the firing of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.

In turn, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche (one of multiple defendants in the action) was named as Hayden’s replacement on an acting basis. From there, as described by Perlmutter’s action, Blanche “sent two Justice Department officials to the Library of Congress” to begin as the acting Deputy Librarian and acting Register.

Specifically, those DOJ officials are Associate Deputy AG Paul Perkins, tapped to serve as the acting Register of Copyrights, and Blanche’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Brian Nieves (acting Deputy Librarian).

But as the plaintiff sees things, President Trump doesn’t have the “authority to name a temporary replacement Librarian of Congress, much less name a high-ranking DOJ official whose presence offends the constitutional separation of powers.”

“In short, the President’s attempt to name Mr. Blanche as acting Librarian of Congress was unlawful and ineffective, and therefore Mr. Blanche cannot remove or replace Ms. Perlmutter,” the filing party summed up of her position.

Meanwhile, though Perlmutter’s complaint contains several requests for relief, the most noteworthy is that mentioned above, concerning her staying aboard as Register.

The court should “[e]nter a preliminary and permanent injunction ordering that Plaintiff Shira Perlmutter may not be removed from her office as Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office,” the legal text spells out.

Regardless of how Perlmutter’s legal challenge unfolds, it’s safe to say that the broader battle for Copyright Office control involves more than a few moving parts.

In its latest weekly report, DMN Pro broke down the multifaceted situation, which is still replete with unknowns when it comes to policy and, in turn, the optimal approach to lobbying.

Besides the legal questions (and lawsuit) surrounding the shakeup, it remains to be seen whether the aforementioned DOJ officials will stick around in their new posts or soon make way for non-acting replacements.

The timing here is certainly important. Despite the widespread idea that “tech bros” facilitated the Copyright Office and Library of Congress overhaul – Perlmutter’s firing directly followed the release of an AI training report – evidence suggests that the acting replacements are hardly Big Tech proponents.