WASHINGTON — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow the removal of Shira Perlmutter as register of copyrights at the Library of Congress while a legal challenge to her firing works its way through the courts.

President Donald Trump fired Perlmutter in May, after he fired Carla Hayden as librarian of Congress in a push to assert control over the legislative branch agency. But an appeals court reinstated Perlmutter to her role in an opinion last month, which noted she works for Congress and should not be considered the same as executive officials Trump can remove at will.

The Trump administration, which has purged dozens of officials and board members across the government, argued in Monday’s application that the Supreme Court should reverse that ruling because officials at the Library of Congress should be removable at will by the president.

Allowing Perlmutter to remain in the role, the Trump administration said in the application, undermined Trump’s preferred policies around intellectual property and control of the executive branch.

The librarian of Congress exercises significant control over executive actions and policy, including meeting with foreign officials about intellectual property policy, which the Trump administration argued means he should be able to fire them, the application said.

“The Librarian and Register exercise powers that this Court has repeatedly classified as executive, such as the power to issue rules implementing a federal statute, to issue orders in administrative adjudications, and even to conduct foreign relations relating to copyright issues,” the application said.

The Supreme Court requested a response from Perlmutter by Nov. 10.

The conservative-controlled court has granted almost all of Trump’s requests to keep fired officials out of office while challenges to their removals worked their way through the courts.

The application calls the name librarian of Congress a “misnomer” and points out that originally the president appointed the librarian for indefinite terms. The application argued that the librarian of Congress, along with the register of copyrights, are both executive officers removable at will.

After firing Hayden, Trump used a different federal law to install Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting head of the Library of Congress. Federal law provides that the president appoints the head of the library, subject to Senate confirmation. The librarian of Congress then appoints the register of copyrights. The register records federal copyrights and advises Congress on intellectual property law.

After Trump officials fired Perlmutter, she sued to challenge her removal. A lower court judge initially denied her efforts to be reinstated.

Last month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a 2-1 decision denied a Trump request to keep Perlmutter fired while the case played out.

The dissenting judge, Judge Justin Walker, compared Trump’s removal of Perlmutter to board members at the Merit Systems Protection Board and other agencies, which the Supreme Court has allowed Trump to fire while their challenges play out through the courts.

The justices have agreed to decide one of those cases this term, over the removal of Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter.

The case is Todd Blanche, in his capacity as the person claiming to be acting librarian of Congress, et al. v. Shira Perlmutter, register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office.

_____

©2025 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Visit cqrollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.