WASHINGTON – TheSupreme CourtonXxdayallowedPresident Donald Trumpto fire the head of the U.S. Copyright Office in adispute that highlights his push to expand his executive power.
The justices paused a lower court's order temporarily reinstating Shira Perlmutter as the Register of Copyrights while shechallenges her dismissalas an "unprecedented power grab" by Trump to take over a nonpartisan congressional institution.
WASHINGTON – TheSupreme Courtwon't letPresident Donald Trumpfire the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, a rare rebuke by the court of Trump's expansive view of presidential power.
The justices onXXdaykept in place a lower court's order temporarily reinstating Shira Perlmutter as the Register of Copyrights while shechallenges her dismissalas an "unprecedented power grab" by Trump to take over a nonpartisan congressional institution.
The conservative court haspreviously allowedTrump to remove leaders of agencies that Congress intended to operate independently.
But Trump's May firing of Perlmutter raised the question of which branch of government controls the Library of Congress, which houses the head of the Copyright Office.
More:Supreme Court to decide if it will overturn decision protecting FTC members from presidential removal
The Librarian of Congress appoints the Register of Copyrights. But Trump alsofired the Librarian,giving Carla Hayden's duties to Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general of the United States. Blanche then fired Perlmutter, the primary advisor to Congress on copyright matters.
Disagreeing over AI
Perlmutter's dismissal came after she issued recommendations about the use of copyrighted materials to train artificial-intelligence models. Trump allegedly disagreed with her report, according to her lawsuit.
A federal judge declined to block her dismissal. But in a2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered her temporary reinstatement while her case is being litigated.
"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," said Circuit Judges Florence Yu Pan and J. Michelle Childs, both of whom were appointed by PresidentJoe Biden.
Circuit Judge Justin Walker, who was appointed by Trump, dissented.
The administration argues that both Hayden's and Perlmutter's jobs include "executive" functions, including interpreting copyright law and negotiating with foreign governments over copyright issues.
"Treating the Librarian and the Register as legislative officers would set much of federal copyright law on a collision course with the basic principle that Congress may not vest the power to execute the laws in itself or its officers," the Justice Department told theSupreme Courtin itsappeal.
Even if Perlmutter was improperly fired, the administration also argued, the only remedy she can receive from the courts is back pay.
More:First Black woman to head Library of Congress fired by Trump over DEI concerns
Lawyers for Perlmutter argued the key question is not whether some of her duties can be characterized as "executive" under the Constitution's division of authority between the three branches of government.
Instead, it is whether Congress intended the Library of Congress to be part of the legislative branch.
"If Congress considered the Library of Congress to be an `independent establishment' and `Executive agency,' it surely would have said so expressly,somewhere," Perlmutter's lawyerstold the court.
What Trump is seeking, they said, is a "sweeping expansion of presidential authority."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Supreme Court lets Trump fire Copyright Office director