# Library of Congress The **Library of Congress (LOC)** is the research library of the United States Congress and the de facto national library — the largest library in the world. It is a **legislative-branch** agency, established in 1800, headed by the **Librarian of Congress**, and it houses two functions far beyond its name: the **[[Congressional Research Service]]** (Congress's nonpartisan in-house think tank) and the **U.S. Copyright Office** (which registers copyrights and advises Congress on copyright law). It is, structurally, an arm of Congress — not the executive branch. For the KB, the LOC matters less as a library than as the site of a **direct separation-of-powers clash** in 2025 — an episode where the executive branch reached into a legislative-branch institution and seized control of it. ## The 2025 firings and executive takeover On **May 8, 2025**, Trump fired **Carla Hayden**, the Librarian of Congress, by a two-sentence email — ending the tenure of the first woman and first Black person to hold the post (appointed by Obama, near the end of her ten-year term). Days later the administration fired **Shira Perlmutter**, the Register of Copyrights and head of the Copyright Office (her dismissal coming shortly after the office released a report on AI and copyright unfavorable to certain industry interests). Perlmutter **sued**, arguing her position is appointed by and answerable to the Librarian — not the President. The constitutional flashpoint was who Trump installed: he named **[[Todd Blanche]]** — a senior Department of Justice official — as **acting Librarian of Congress**, and other DOJ officials as acting heads of the Copyright Office and the Library. Placing **executive-branch (DOJ) officials atop a legislative-branch agency** is precisely the kind of cross-branch seizure the [[Separation of Powers]] is meant to prevent, and Congress's own leaders objected that the President has no authority to run Congress's library. As of 2026 the LOC remained under contested acting leadership. The episode is a vivid instance of [[Unitary Executive Theory]] pushed past the executive branch's own borders. ## See Also - [[Congressional Research Service]] - [[Congress]] - [[Separation of Powers]] - [[Legislative Agencies Hub]]