Trump asks Supreme Court to let him fire Shira Perlmutter

The administration of President Donald Trump on Monday petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to allow him to fire Shira Perlmutter, the head of the U.S. Copyright Office. The dispute determines who ultimately guides copyright policies impacting artists and leads the agency forward in the age of artificial intelligence.

Solicitor General John Sauer filed the petition to stay an injunction from a D.C. Circuit Court panel that had ordered the Trump administration to reinstate Perlmutter in September. The Justice Department argued in the document that Trump had the right as president to fire her.

The petition to the Supreme Court comes after Perlmutter, earlier this yea,r filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over her May termination, alleging that only the Librarian of Congress has that right. The Copyright Office is part of the Library of Congress.

But when Trump fired Perlmutter, he also fired Carla Hayden—the Librarian of Congress. He then appointed Todd Blanche to that role, a move that has been widely disputed. Perlmutter’s lawsuit asserted that Trump did not have the right to appoint Blanche, as she is an employee of the Legislative Branch of government, not the Executive Branch.

In her lawsuit, Perlmutter said she was fired right after her office published a report questioning whether tech companies can legally use copyrighted material to train AI systems.

The report warned that pulling creative works from the internet without permission might break copyright law and isn’t automatically covered by fair use. It called for more research as AI companies keep using larger amounts of data.

The Center for Art Law later said that the release of the Copyright Office's detailed report on AI and copyright "coincides with exceptional institutional turbulence," and Perlmutter's dismissal "raises questions about what changes new management might enact."

Before reaching the circuit court, Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly rejected Perlmutter's request to temporarily reinstate her as the case moved through the courts.

In her appeal to the circuit court, Perlmutter noted that Trump later made public statements that she said contradicted the findings of the report and called her firing part of an attempt to exert executive control over the Copyright Office.

“Shira Perlmutter has served the American people with unrivaled expertise for decades. Her unlawful firing will gravely harm the entire copyright community. She understood what we all know to be true: human creativity and authorship are the foundation of copyright law — and for that, it appears, she lost her job,” the American Federation of Musicians said in a statement in May.

“On behalf of musicians across the United States and Canada, we thank Register Perlmutter for her service.”

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