Judge Rejects Ex-Copyright Chief’s Bid to Pause Trump Firing (2)

President Donald Trump’s firing of Copyright Office Director Shira Perlmutter will stand for now as a judge ruled Wednesday she hadn’t shown she’d suffer irreparable harm.

Perlmutter can’t resume her duties as director as her bid for a temporary restraining order was rejected by Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee, who ruled from the bench during a hearing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

Even if Perlmutter was likely to succeed on the merits, Kelly said his analysis was pinned on the irreparable harm threshold required to grant the order and Perlmutter did not meet that requirement.

Perlmutter’s argument of irreparable harm rested on the idea that she was deprived of the statutory right to function as the register of copyrights, Kelly said. Recent court decisions from the US Supreme Court and the D.C. Circuit have been “skeptical” of that argument, the judge said.

Any impingement of the Library of Congress’ and Copyright Office’s ability to perform their statutory duties isn’t a harm to Perlmutter, he added.

Perlmutter said in her complaint and TRO bid she would also be harmed by her inability to resume her role without emergency relief because of the damage caused to the Library of Congress and its status as an independent agency. But Kelly said the argument was vague and simply suggested her role would be changed in a “dramatic” but “undefined” way.

“The problem for the plaintiff is that the record here is devoid of factual support for this argument,” he said.

The ruling is a temporary win for Trump in a broader fight over the president’s firing power of independent agencies that have historically enjoyed independence from the whims of the executive. Trump faces lawsuits over removals of commissioners of these agencies and inspectors general, but this is the first case over termination of a legislative branch employee.

Kelly said he was surprised Congress hadn’t determined that the separation of powers issue raised by the complaint warranted intervention. He said Congress’ absence from the lawsuit affected his judgment regarding the arguments of institutional harm caused by Trump’s firings.

Trump fired Perlmutter on May 10, days after firing her boss, Barack Obama-appointed Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Perlmutter’s May 22 lawsuit called her firing “blatantly unlawful,” and said his appointment of his former defense attorney and current Justice Department official Todd Blanche to replace Hayden was also illegal.

Perlmutter’s TRO request asked Kelly to reinstate her, bar Blanche from acting as librarian, and void any acts by him. It also asked for a declaration that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act—which allows presidents to fill vacancies of president-appointed offices on an acting basis—doesn’t cover the Library of Congress.

Stanley Woodward Jr., a White House and Justice Department official who argued the case, insisted the vacancy law’s net includes the Library of Congress because the register of copyrights has executive authority such as the power to set rates and terms of music royalty payments.

“I emphasize this is based on—this case is two-and-a-half business days old,” Kelly said at the conclusion of the hearing. “This is my resolution of a temporary restraining order on a very limited record.”

If the Perlmutter want to pursue a preliminary injunction request following his ruling, her counsel should file their briefing by 5 p.m. Thursday, Kelly said. Perlmutter’s counsel asked if the TRO denial was final, to which Kelly responded saying if they didn’t want to take the injunction route they could request a conference to talk about it.

Democracy Forward Foundation and Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP represent Perlmutter. The Justice Department represents Trump and other defendants.

The case is Perlmutter v. Blanche, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-01659, temporary restraining order hearing held 5/28/25.