WASHINGTON — The White House has named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting head of the Library of Congress, the Department of Justice confirmed Monday, as the administration makes a bid to exert more control over the legislative branch agency.

Blanche is a former personal attorney of President Donald Trump’s and replaces Carla Hayden, the longtime librarian of Congress whom Trump fired last week.

His appointment comes days after the White House fired another top official, U.S. Copyright Office head Shira Perlmutter, whose office is housed within the Library of Congress.

The move raised questions and caused confusion for library employees and members of Congress alike.

“You may have read that the White House has appointed a new acting Librarian. Currently, Congress is engaged with the White House, and we have not yet received direction from Congress about how to move forward,” Robert Newlen, who had stepped into the acting director role after Hayden’s firing, wrote Monday morning in an email to Library of Congress employees obtained by CQ Roll Call.

Some critics of the move have argued that Blanche should not pull double duty at a legislative branch agency, while others said it opened up complicated legal questions.

“You can’t name an executive branch official to head a legislative branch agency. It is unconstitutional, illegal and imprudent,” said Daniel Schuman, executive director of the American Governance Institute and a former employee of the Congressional Research Service, which is part of the Library of Congress.

Blanche is a Trump ally who has defended the president in multiple cases, including the 2024 hush money case in which Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He was confirmed by the Senate in March to serve as second-in-command in the Trump Justice Department under Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Democrats have questioned the validity and process of Trump’s terminations of Hayden and Perlmutter. While the president appoints librarians of Congress with Senate confirmation, the copyright office head is appointed by the librarian, according to statute.

“Donald Trump’s termination of Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis,” said Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., ranking member on the House Administration Committee, in a statement. “This action once again tramples on Congress’s Article One authority and throws a trillion-dollar industry into chaos. When will my Republican colleagues decide enough is enough?”

Michael Stern, a former senior counsel to the House, said he suspected some in Congress would be willing to defer to the courts on the question of whether Trump’s power grab at the library is legal. The White House could claim, Stern said, that the copyright office performs executive branch functions, or argue that since the president has the authority to appoint the librarian of Congress, then he should also have the authority to fire the librarian.

“But that’s ridiculous, because Congress relies on these people to work for them. They don’t work for the executive branch in any realistic sense,” Stern said.

Morelle also led a group of Democrats — including House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. — in a letter on Monday to the library’s inspector general requesting “an investigation into, and continued monitoring of, potential improper communications between” the library and the executive branch.

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, but also serves as a legislative resource to members of Congress. Library employees communicate regularly with members and member offices, raising the possibility that the White House could access troves of data.

“The abrupt firing of Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden raises serious concerns that the executive branch is improperly targeting the Library and its employees with adverse employment actions and inappropriate requests for information including, but not limited to, confidential communications between congressional offices and the Library’s various service units,” the lawmakers wrote.

Congressional Republican leaders, as of Monday afternoon, had so far declined to weigh in on Trump’s attempt to assert control over the library.

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(The headline in this report was corrected to reflect Blanche’s official title at the Justice Department.)

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