This article is not legal history, but may be of interest to readers of the blog -- many of whom have likely made use of the Library of Congress or have other reasons to care about its functions: Leslie Street (William and Mary Law School) and Amanda Runyon (Penn Carey Law), "The Library of Congress at a Crossroads: Executive Overreach and the Future of Public Knowledge," Seattle University Law Review Online & Seattle Journal of Technology, Environment, & Innovation Law (forthcoming 2026). The abstract:
In May 2025, President Trump's removal of the Librarian of
Congress and attempted removal of the Register of Copyrights
precipitated a constitutional crisis that exposed fundamental structural
vulnerabilities in the nation's knowledge infrastructure. This Article
argues that the Library of Congress faces a dual threat: a
constitutional breach of separation of powers and a cultural threat to
the preservation of America's intellectual heritage. The Library's
structural ambiguity — its simultaneous identity as a legislative
library, national library, and copyright agency — has left it vulnerable
to executive overreach that threatens both constitutional integrity and
its role as custodian of national memory.
Drawing on separation-of-powers doctrine, mandatory deposit
jurisprudence, and the emerging Supreme Court framework on presidential
removal authority, this Article demonstrates that the Copyright Office's
exercise of executive functions within a legislative institution
creates irreconcilable constitutional tensions. The D.C. Circuit's
decision in Valancourt Books further undermines the mandatory deposit system that has sustained the Library's comprehensive collections for over 150 years.
To resolve these crises, this Article proposes a comprehensive
three-part legislative solution: (1) modernizing mandatory deposit to
authorize electronic submissions and create constitutional protections
through voluntary compliance mechanisms; (2) codifying the Library's
status as a wholly legislative branch entity with congressional
appointment of the Librarian; and (3) severing the Copyright Office from
the Library and relocating it to the Executive Branch. Without decisive
congressional action, the erosion of the Library's statutory
independence threatens the constitutional balance of powers, the
preservation of American cultural heritage, and the future of public
knowledge in a democratic society.
Read on here.
-- Karen Tani
