By the order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Shira Perlmutter remains the register of copyrights and the director of the U.S. Copyright Office, despite the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to oust her. Circuit judges Florence Y. Pan and J. Michelle Childs concurred that Perlmutter may stay in her role for now. Circuit judge Justin R. Walker dissented.

After Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the D.C. district court twice denied Perlmutter’s motions for a preliminary injunction, on May 28 and again on July 30, Perlmutter filed a notice of appeal with the circuit court on July 31. On September 10, circuit court judges Pan and Childs wrote that the “appellant has satisfied the stringent requirements for an injunction pending appeal.” They reasoned that “because she continues to serve as Register at the present time, ruling in her favor would not disrupt the work of the U.S. Copyright Office. To the contrary, it is her removal that would be disruptive.”

The judges’ order stated that “Todd Blanche, Paul Perkins, Sergio Gor, Trent Morse, and the Executive Office of the President, and their subordinates and agents, are hereby enjoined from interfering with appellant’s service as Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office pending further order of the court."

Perlmutter has maintained that the administration’s efforts to fire and replace her are illegal, and that the White House action coincided with the Copyright Office’s release of a prepublication report about generative AI training. The circuit court was sympathetic to this argument. “When Perlmutter’s AI Report was released, the President allegedly disagreed with the recommendations,” the judges wrote in their concurrence. “And the next day—a Saturday—the White House Presidential Personnel Office notified Perlmutter by email that she had been terminated from her position ‘effective immediately.’”

The judges considered Perlmutter’s role as an advisor to Congress and her “opportunity to influence Congress on copyright matters of national importance, such as the development of generative AI.” The prepublication AI report, they wrote, takes up issues of fair use and licensing over which the executive branch would like to wield control. “The Copyright Office is reportedly in the process of finalizing a separate aspect of the report to Congress, which will address the topic of potential liability for infringing AI outputs,” they added. The White House released its own AI vision—dubbed “America’s AI Action Plan”—on July 23.

The circuit judges took issue with the fact that “the district court’s order denying injunctive relief rested solely on its determination that Perlmutter had failed to show that she would suffer irreparable harm.” They said the court failed to weigh other important factors and “abused its discretion by failing to consider ‘unusual actions relating to the discharge’” by the White House.

In regard to the separation of powers, the judges said “the President’s removal of Perlmutter was likely unlawful” because the librarian of Congress—appointed by the president and approved by the Senate—is the only individual authorized to appoint or remove the register of copyrights. They questioned the effort to install two executive branch officials—U.S. deputy attorney general Blanche and associate deputy attorney general Perkins—in the legislative roles of librarian of Congress and register of copyrights, respectively.

Judge Walker, in his dissent, agreed with district judge Kelly and argued that the Supreme Court “recently, repeatedly, and unequivocally” has allowed the removal of officials by the president.

Judges Pan and Childs are both Biden appointees who came to the circuit court in 2022. (Pan also presided over the 2022 antitrust trial that blocked Penguin Random House’s purchase of Simon & Schuster.) Judge Walker, a former clerk for then-judge Brett Kavanaugh and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, came to the circuit court bench in 2020 as a Trump appointee. District judge Kelly is likewise a Trump appointee.

The decision grants Perlmutter and the Copyright Office a temporary reprieve, as 2025’s partisan feud rages on unabated.