The Supreme Court's decision in Eldred v. Ashcroft upheld the constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act by refusing to apply the limits-on-enumerated-powers doctrine from the Commerce Clause cases (Lopez, Morrison) to the Copyright Clause, treating copyright differently from commerce despite using identical constitutional language about enumerated powers with limits.

factualpending

Speaker

Lawrence Lessig

Evidence Quote

I had said there was no way this Court could reconcile limited powers with the Commerce Clause and unlimited powers with the Progress Clause. It had never even occurred to me that they could reconcile the two simply by not addressing the argument.
Created: 7/13/2026, 4:53:43 PM

My Notes

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