Congress Members of Both Parties See White House Overreach in Library of Congress, Library of Congress Firings

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are expressing concerns about potential overreach from the White House, after President Trump abruptly fired the leaders of the Library of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office, and attempted to replace them with loyalists. 

The firings of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and her subordinate, Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter, are raising new questions about the Trump Administration’s influence over the legislative branch.

This started when President Trump abruptly fired Hayden on May 8 and two days later fired Perlmutter.

On the firing of Hayden, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children.”

President Trump has tried to install Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche (his former personal lawyer) as acting librarian. However, Congressional Republicans are joining Democrats in questioning whether the president has the power to do so. 

“We want to make sure all the — you know, everything’s followed correctly,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Some rank-and-file Republicans were blunter.

“If they are congressional employees, and I know that there’s a discussion on that, then they belong to Congress and not to the executive branch,” said Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD), who sits on the subcommittee that funds the Library of Congress.

The administration insists it has the power to fire and name the acting librarian under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. However, many in Congress say the act does not apply to an arm of the legislative branch.

“We must assert our congressional prerogative by making the position of Librarian of Congress appointed by a congressional commission — not by presidents that treat federal appointments like reality TV prizes,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). 

As of now, Hayden’s deputy, Robert Newlen, is acting librarian.  

Copyright Controversy

Democrats were also irate over the firing of Shira Perlmutter as Register of Copyrights. 

In a letter to the president, some Senate Democrats pointed out that only the Librarian of Congress has the power to appoint or remove the Register of Copyrights. 

“You are acting beyond your power and contrary to the intent of Congress as you seek to erode the legal and institutional independence of offices explicitly designed to operate outside the reach of partisan influence,” wrote the senators, led by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA). 

The Senators note that the firings come at a time when the Copyright Office could exert major influence over AI policy. 

“Your dismissal of Ms. Perlmutter, which occurred one day after the Copyright Office’s publication of a report questioning the legal bounds of applying the fair use doctrine to training artificial intelligence models on copyrighted materials, also raises grave concerns that your Administration moved to remove Ms. Perlmutter to satisfy commercial or political interests,” stated the letter.