The Search for Meaning Larry Lessig has a very interesting post about the recent Eldred decision. As someone who always bought legal realism, and at least found the Critical Legal Studies critique intriguing, my mantra generally is "Tell me who's on the Supreme Court and what their politics are, and I'll tell you what the outcome will be." Thus, I cannot say that the outcome of the Eldred case left me with quite the same sense of disillusionment as Lessig. If it's any consolation, I think there's value in professors not subscribing to the "faith" of the law. Skepticism and inquiry are things to be valued. We only run into trouble when we lose sight of the fact that, however many flaws the system may have, it's still one of the better systems devised by man. I know some may vehemently disagree with this sentiment, while others may be shocked to see it coming off of my keyboard, but I still stand by it. No, I'm not a "My country, right or wrong" person. And yes, I will be the first person to point out all of the flaws I see in our system, and all of the things we as a country have done wrong. But that doesn't make me anti-American. In fact, I argue that that makes me more of a patriot than someone blindly ingesting whatever they're spoon fed in civics class and on the evening news. But this is no time to delve into my opinions on the war on terror, so I will end here. But before I do, I just want to say that, despite the outcome of the case, Lessig's efforts, both as a professor and a lawyer, weren't lost on me, and I'm sure that there are others out there who feel the same. While it's disappointing to think back on how excited Larry, JZ and Eldred were in the early days of bringing the case, only to have seven Justices of the Supreme Court determine that their efforts weren't even worthy of a full trial before the district court, I have to hope that the time and effort everyone put into the case weren't in vain. If nothing else, I can say that they inspired at least a handful of us to take an interest in the social ramifications of intellectual property. That, at least, is something.