The two officials—Paul Perkins, an associate deputy attorney general, and Brian Nieves, a deputy chief of staff and senior policy counsel—were seeking access to the U.S. Copyright Office but were denied entry at around 9 a.m., sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The New York Times.
Despite Trump’s appointment of Blanche as acting librarian of Congress, library staff have reportedly been recognizing Robert Newlen as their interim replacement instead, according to The Times’ sources. Newlen was principal deputy librarian and Hayden’s second-in-command.
Staff seem to be waiting for direction from Congress, with Newlen additionally sending an email to employees saying he did not recognize Blanche’s appointment as valid, according to Politico.
Why couldn’t other agencies do this? Almost none of the DOGE crap that’s been done has been legal. So why did anybody listen to them at all?
Library of Congress is not part of the executive branch so constitutionally speaking, they don’t have new bosses unless Congress says so.
That being said, I could make the argument that DOGE is not a valid department and that all government employees should have resisted yet here we are.
librarians have been dealing with republicans trying to take full control of all libraries for many decades
I’m guessing librarians know how to read more than many other categories of federal workers.
some agencies have tried to fight back.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/united-states-african-development-foudation-doge-lawsuit/
There was one division that I saw go by that did, and was arrested. I’m guessing that they didn’t expect this from librarians.