• Fired copyright chief loses first round in lawsuit over Trump powers

    From Leroy N. Soetoro@21:1/5 to All on Thu May 29 19:16:26 2025
    XPost: alt.government.employees, sac.politics, alt.politics.republicans
    XPost: talk.politics.guns, talk.politics.misc

    https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/28/fired-copyright-chief-first- round-lawsuit-trump-00373611

    A judge denied a request for reinstatement Wednesday from the ousted head
    of the national copyright office, rejecting for now her claims that
    President Donald Trump had no right to fire her.

    Shira Perlmutter was fired as register of copyrights earlier this month,
    an office housed inside the Library of Congress. In a suit filed in Washington’s federal court last week, she alleged that Trump and his subordinates overstepped in both naming a new Librarian of Congress — the
    only official, she claims, that can hire and fire a copyright chief.

    Perlmutter asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order keeping Trump’s appointees out of the Library of Congress and keeping her on the
    job, but U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly denied the motion from the
    bench in a hearing Wednesday.

    Perlmutter’s lawsuit names as lead plaintiff Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, whom Trump attempted to appoint as acting Librarian of Congress, alongside Trump and several other administration officials. Justice
    Department lawyers representing Blanche & Co. asserted in a court filing
    this week that the Library of Congress is “part of the Executive Branch
    and is subject to presidential control.”

    “The Library of Congress is not an autonomous organization free from
    political supervision,” the lawyers wrote.

    The White House argues that Trump has the authority to name an acting
    librarian and register of copyrights who can serve temporarily under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act — much as the president can name acting
    leaders for any other federal agency with a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed chief.

    Key lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including some top Republicans, are
    questioning that assertion, and it has created a standoff at the Library
    of Congress over the attempted takeover.

    Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said in a statement that the arguments in the recent
    administration court filing amount to “unlawful and unconstitutional
    efforts to wrest control of the Library and the Copyright Office from
    Congress and the American people.”

    “The law is clear,” Morelle said. “The Library of Congress is a
    legislative branch agency, and the President has no authority to appoint
    an Acting Librarian or meddle in the Library’s personnel decisions.”

    In addition to attempting to install Blanche as acting librarian, Trump
    also attempted to appoint Brian Nieves as acting assistant librarian and
    Paul Perkins as acting register of copyrights, replacing Perlmutter as
    director of the Copyright Office.

    But Robert Randolph Newlen, who assumed the acting librarian role
    immediately after Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden’s removal, appears to remain in control of the library, and Blanche has not been seen at the
    library or sent communications to employees since the attempted takeover earlier this month.

    While Kelly did not immediately grant Perlmutter’s request, her lawsuit
    will continue. Kelly indicated he will hear arguments in the coming weeks
    on whether to grant a preliminary injunction blocking Trump and Blanche
    while the litigation plays out.

    In the meantime, the leadership of the library and copyright office will
    remain in limbo.

    “If Mr. Blanche assumes the role of Acting Librarian of Congress, the
    Executive Branch will gain access to reams of confidential information
    that belongs to Congress and that Congress has zealously guarded from disclosure, as well as privately owned copyright deposits,” Perlmutter’s
    lawyer wrote in a Tuesday filing.

    Republican chairs of the House and Senate panels with oversight
    responsibility of the library declined a request for comment.

    Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Rules
    Committee, called once again for Congress to take bipartisan action to
    codify full congressional control of the library, condemning the
    “unprecedented encroachment by the White House.”


    --
    November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
    forward to America being great again.

    We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
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    Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

    Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama
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    Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
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