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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Appeals court rules against Trump in major separation of powers case
By Katelyn Polantz, CNN
Updated:
1:53 PM EDT, Wed September 10, 2025
Source: CNN
A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration
from replacing the US’ top copyright official as the fight over
executive branch firings and President Donald Trump’s use of
executive power continues.
Shira Perlmutter, who had been the register of copyrights since the
Librarian of Congress appointed her in 2020, was fired by Trump in May
after she prepared a report for Congress on the usage of artificial
intelligence that Trump allegedly disagreed with, she says in her
lawsuit.
In a , a panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the
register of copyrights is part of the legislative branch, making her
only able to be fired by a Senate-confirmed Librarian of Congress, and
not the president.
“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,” the DC Circuit Judge Florence Pan
wrote.
Trump installed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, one of his former
private attorneys, as the acting Librarian of Congress – the position
above the register’s – then appointed another Justice Department
official, Paul Perkins, in Perlmutter’s place.
The court also said Blanche’s appointment as acting Librarian of
Congress is also likely unlawful, because he has not been confirmed by
the Senate.
The case is among a handful this year testing the presidency’s power
over appointees working with the legislative branch of government or in
independent agencies. The Supreme Court has repeatedly allowed Trump to
remove officials from their posts for now, though the lower courts have
delivered mixed decisions, often based on party-line splits among
panels of judges and close readings about the law at play in the cases
and the separation of powers.
“The President’s attempt to reach into the Legislative Branch to
fire an official that he has no statutory authority to either appoint
or remove, and to impede Congress’s ability to carry out an
enumerated constitutional duty, presents a ‘genuinely extraordinary
situation,’ that threatens irreparable harm to the constitutional
structure of our government,” Pan also wrote. “The President’s
purported removal of the Legislative Branch’s chief advisor on
copyright matters, based on the advice that she provided to Congress,
is akin to the President trying to fire a federal judge’s law
clerk.”
Perlmutter sued for her job, and now two of three judges on the DC
Circuit Court of Appeals say she should keep her position for now.
Judge Michelle Childs, also appointed by a Democratic president, was
also in the majority.
Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, dissented.
Walker pointed to how the Supreme Court has “recently, repeatedly,
and unequivocally” stopped courts from stepping in when Trump has
fired officials.
“I do not doubt that my colleagues are attempting in good faith to
interpret and apply” Supreme Court precedent, Walker wrote in a short
dissent. “We must apply those precedents,” even if the case
continues and Perlmutter argues there is a violation of the separation
of powers.
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