Appeals court restores Copyright Office chief, says Trump's firing attempt was illegal

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that President Trump’s move to fire the head of the U.S. Copyright Office likely stretched beyond the law, and it ordered Shira Perlmutter restored to her duties while the case develops further.

In a 2-1 ruling, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the firing is different than the slate of other ousters the Supreme Court has allowed.

Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee, said Ms. Perlmutter, officially the register of the Copyright Office, is an official within the legislative branch and gives advice to Congress rather than performing executive functions that would fall under the president.

Besides, Judge Pan said, Mr. Trump seems to have fired her chiefly because he disagreed with a report she delivered on artificial intelligence.

“If those facts are proven true, that would be a grave intrusion by the president into the constitutional powers of a coordinate branch of government,” she wrote.

Her ruling, joined by Judge Michelle Childs, another Biden appointee, contradicts a district judge’s decision, which found Ms. Perlmutter hadn’t shown enough harm to warrant her restoration to office while the case proceeds.

Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, dissented.

He said Ms. Perlmutter’s duties included executive power, which made her subject to firing by the president. Among those powers is issuing copyright registrations and other records, with authority to issue regulatory rules.

The Register of Copyrights reports to the Librarian of Congress, which, despite its name, has also been found to wield executive authority, Judge Walker said.

He said that places Ms. Perlmutter’s case squarely within the line of other Trump firings — including at the National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission — that the Supreme Court has allowed.