The legal fight over who can fire the head of the U.S. Copyright Office is back before a Washington, D.C. court, and the stakes run straight through the world of books, music, film and artificial intelligence.

In a court brief filed on July 31, 2026, lawyers for the Trump administration told the federal district court hearing Shira Perlmutter's case that the Supreme Court's recent decision in Trump v. Slaughter gives the president the power to dismiss her from her role as Register of Copyrights — the top official at the U.S. Copyright Office, the government agency that registers copyrights and advises Congress on copyright law (Publishing Perspectives).

Perlmutter's lawyers contend the opposite: they argue that under the statute governing the office, only the Librarian of Congress has the authority to appoint and remove the Register, not the president. The dispute turns on whether the Register, though housed within the Library of Congress — a legislative-branch institution — performs enough executive-branch work to fall under the president's removal power.

The administration's filing calls Perlmutter "an inferior officer wielding significant executive power" and argues she was lawfully removed. The Trump v. Slaughter decision, handed down in June 2026, held that the president has broad discretion to fire employees who work for the executive branch. The case involved the summary dismissal of Federal Trade Commission commissioner Rebecca Slaughter (Publishing Perspectives).

The timeline is tangled. President Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in May 2025, then dismissed Perlmutter two days later. Perlmutter's removal came immediately after the Copyright Office released the third and final part of a wide-ranging review of artificial intelligence and copyright — a report that argued for the rights of copyright owners and appeared to clash with the administration's AI objectives (Publishing Perspectives). Perlmutter sued within weeks, claiming her removal was unlawful and ineffective (NPR).

In September 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in Perlmutter's favour. The appeals court found that the president lacked authority to fire her, stating that the Librarian of Congress — not the president — is authorised by statute to appoint the Register. It ordered the administration not to obstruct her work. The case is docketed as Perlmutter v. Blanche, No. 25-5285 (D.C. Circuit court order).

In November 2025, the Supreme Court deferred a decision on the administration's request to remove Perlmutter while litigation continued (SCOTUSblog). Then in June 2026, the Court declined to hear the administration's challenge to the appeals court ruling outright, leaving the injunction in place and Perlmutter in her role (Publishing Perspectives).

The same month, the Court decided Trump v. Slaughter — and the administration moved quickly to use it. The July 31 brief argues that because the Register performs some executive-branch functions, Slaughter applies and the president's removal power extends to her.

Through all of this, Perlmutter has continued serving. On May 12, 2026, she testified before the Senate Judiciary IP Subcommittee at a hearing on Copyright Office oversight, identified in official records as Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office (U.S. Copyright Office).

The district court had previously scheduled oral arguments for December 8, 2025 (Authors Alliance). The administration's new brief, built on a Supreme Court ruling that did not exist when those arguments were first calendared, now gives the court a fresh legal framework to weigh.

For anyone who holds a copyright — and that includes every published author — the question of who controls the office that registers those rights is not abstract. The Register shapes policy on how copyright interacts with emerging technologies, including AI training data and generated content. Whoever holds the job sits at the intersection of creative work, technology policy and constitutional law. The district court will now decide whether that person answers to the Librarian of Congress or to the president.