Chris emails to say her students are actually planning a grassroots campaign to bring down Billy!

Well, if they're really serious, here's as far as I've gotten: The statue authorizing the office of Poet Laureate says that whatever procedure was in place for choosing the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress when the statute was enacted (Dec. 20, 1985) will become the procedure for choosing the Poet Laureate. However, I haven't been able to find any description of the procedure itself. It would be important to do so because presumably, since this is a government office, there ought to be some process for removing its occupant.

Anyway, I can think of two ways to proceed:

1. Dig back through earlier U.S. Code to find if there is a statute creating the office of Consultant in Poetry (this would be in the late 1920s, I think).

2. The Library of Congress may have its own internal regulations, which must be available somewhere. Perhaps these are what governs the laureateship.

And then--down with Billy!

So, um--who would replace him? The Vice Poet Laureate?