The Trump administration's emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court remains pending, asking the justices to stay a D.C. Circuit order that reinstated…
The Trump administration's emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court remains pending, asking the justices to stay a D.C. Circuit order that reinstated Shira Perlmutter as Register of Copyrights after the administration removed her from that position [1]. The full D.C. Circuit denied rehearing of the panel's earlier ruling, forcing the administration to escalate to the Supreme Court under application No. 25A478 [1]. The administration characterizes the appellate injunction as "improper judicial interference" with the president's authority to remove executive officers [2].
The case, *Blanche v. Perlmutter*, arose from the administration's firing of Perlmutter and her subsequent legal challenge, represented by the Democracy Forward Foundation. The dispute sits before the Supreme Court after a three-judge D.C. Circuit panel ruled in Perlmutter's favor in September 2025, reinstating her to the post she had held under the Librarian of Congress [2]. Judges Florence Pan, J. Michelle Childs, and Justin Walker comprised the panel; Solicitor General D. John Sauer is leading the government's Supreme Court argument [2]. Deputy Chief of Staff Todd Blanche is named as the respondent in his official capacity.
The substantive stakes extend well beyond a single personnel dispute. Perlmutter argues she is a Legislative Branch officer who advises Congress on copyright matters and therefore falls outside the president's unilateral removal power [2]. The administration counters that the president retains removal authority over any officer exercising executive functions, an argument that tracks the ongoing effort to narrow *Humphrey's Executor v. United States*, the 1935 precedent that insulates certain independent officers from at-will removal [2]. Embedded in the dispute is a consequential policy question: Copyright Office leadership has been at the center of deliberations over whether AI training on copyrighted works constitutes infringement, and a change in that leadership could shift the agency's posture toward the administration's reported preference for a permissive AI-training framework [1].
If the Supreme Court grants the stay, Perlmutter would be removed pending a merits ruling, allowing the administration to install new leadership at the Copyright Office. If the Court denies the application, Perlmutter remains in place while litigation continues in the lower courts. No argument date has been set, and the application's disposition, whether granted, denied, or referred to the full Court, will signal how the justices view the urgency and likely merit of the administration's removal-power claim [1].
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**Meta Description:** The Supreme Court holds a pending stay application in *Blanche v. Perlmutter*, where the Trump administration seeks to remove the reinstated Register of Copyrights and test presidential removal power.
**Slug:** blanche-perlmutter-scotus-stay-copyright-register
**Tags:** Legal News, Appellate Development, Blanche v. Perlmutter, United States, Washington D.C., Copyright Law, Executive Power, Separation of Powers, Shira Perlmutter, Todd Blanche, D. John Sauer, U.S. Copyright Office, Democracy Forward Foundation, AI Policy
**Metadata:**
– subject: Blanche v. Perlmutter
– subject_type: Appellate Development
– date: 2026-06-08
– jurisdiction: federal
– country: United States
– region: D.C.
– city: Washington
– key_people: Shira Perlmutter, Todd Blanche, Florence Pan, J. Michelle Childs, Justin Walker, D. John Sauer
– key_organizations: U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, U.S. Copyright Office, Democracy Forward Foundation, Library of Congress
– themes: Copyright Law, Executive Power, Separation of Powers, AI Policy
– significance: A ruling for the administration would expand presidential removal authority over Legislative Branch officers and potentially reshape Copyright Office policy on AI training, while a denial would reinforce limits on executive removal power established under Humphrey's Executor.
**References:**
[1] SCOTUSblog. (2026, June 8). *Blanche v. Perlmutter, No. 25A478 — SCOTUS interim docket*. https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/interim-docket/2025/
[2] IPWatchdog. (2025, October 29). *Trump tells SCOTUS that ruling restoring Perlmutter is 'improper judicial interference.'* https://ipwatchdog.com/2025/10/29/trump-scotus-ruling-perlmutter-copyright-office-improper/