Info/Law

Stanford law professor Larry Lessig, a co-founder of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and an author of many influential works in the domain of cyberlaw and intellectual property, announced today that he is thinking of running for Congress to fill the seat recently opened by the death of Rep. Tom Lantos. More (although not much more, given the short time since the announcement) at Boing Boing and Slashdot, or via Google News.

In typical Lessig fashion, he has crowdsourced the question whether he should run. At his new site, Lessig08.org, you can watch a ten-minute video that looks an awful lot like one of the PowerPoint presentations for which Lessig is known, then submit feedback on whether he should run or not. You can submit a contribution online that will go to Professor Lessig’s campaign if he decides to run, or to Creative Commons if he decides against it.

The world hardly teems with legal academics who have gone on to happy careers as holders of elective office, and I suspect Professor Lessig, who is as level-headed as they come, privately recognizes the quixotic character of his potential candidacy. It’s understandable and forgivable, I hope, that the first parallel Professor Lessig’s announcement brought to my mind was Roberto Unger, a HLS professor and perennial long-distance candidate for the presidency of Brazil. On the other hand, as has already been pointed out, if there was ever a Congressional district tailor-made for someone like Professor Lessig, it’s California’s 12th, which is loaded with technology companies and technologists, who are as close to a natural constituency as Professor Lessig is ever likely to find. It’ll surely be a race worth watching if it gets off the ground.

UPDATE #1: More from JP, JZ, Concurring Opinions, and David Weinberger.

UPDATE #2: On February 25, Prof. Lessig announced that he will not run.

Filed under: Berkman, Internet & Society, Law School, Voting