The operation of the National Emergency Library is part of a lawsuit filed against the Internet Archive by four major book publishers in June 2020, challenging the copyright validity of the controlled digital lending program. In response, the Internet Archive closed the National Emergency Library on June 16, 2020, rather than the planned June 30, 2020, due to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs, supported by the Copyright Alliance, claimed in their lawsuit that the Internet Archive's actions constituted a "willful mass copyright infringement". Additionally, Senator Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), chairman of the intellectual property subcommittee on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a letter to the Internet Archive that he was "concerned that the Internet Archive thinks that it – not Congress – gets to determine the scope of copyright law". In August 2020 the lawsuit trial was tentatively scheduled to begin in November 2021.