Jim W. Ko of The Sedona Conference, The National Law Review; Congress’s Knowledge at Risk: The Constitutional Stakes in the Perlmutter Case
"Do all federal employees “serve at the pleasure of the President”? That question, usually tucked away in the margins of constitutional law, now sits at the center of one of the most consequential disputes of our time.
When President Trump fired Shira Perlmutter, the Director of the U.S. Copyright Office (formally the Register of Copyrights),1 the move appeared—at first glance—to be the straightforward exercise of presidential authority. After all, presidents hire and fire their own officers; the Librarian of Congress is a presidential appointee; and the Copyright Office sits within the Library.
But a closer look reveals that this case is not about ordinary personnel management. It is about whether the President can extend his reach into Congress’s own library, and in so doing, compromise both the constitutional separation of powers and the First Amendment’s guarantee against viewpoint discrimination."
