The register of copyrights at the Library of Congress defended a lower court ruling that kept her in office despite President Donald Trump’s attempts to fire her in a legal filing Monday urging the Supreme Court to allow her to remain in office.
The filing on behalf of Shira Perlmutter argued that Trump cannot lawfully remove someone who is effectively an employee of the legislative branch, especially over policy disagreements over artificial intelligence issues. Last month Trump asked the Supreme Court to allow him to remove her from office after a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reinstated her.
Perlmutter’s Monday filing criticized the Trump administration, saying that “in response to lawless executive action, Applicants are asking the Court to exercise its equitable authority to grant extraordinary relief that would upend the status quo and defy Congress’s well-expressed intent.”
