Page "Eldred v. Ashcroft" Paragraph 19

On January 15, 2003, the Court held the CTEA constitutional by a 7 – 2 decision.

The majority opinion, written by Justice Ginsburg, relied heavily on the Copyright Acts of 1790, 1831, 1909, and 1976 as precedent for retroactive extensions.

One of the arguments supporting the act was the life expectancy has significantly increased among the human population since the 18th century, and therefore copyright law needed extending as well.

However, the major argument for the act that carried over into the case was that the Constitution specified that Congress only needed to set time limits for copyright, the length of which was left to their discretion.

Thus, as long as the limit is not " forever ," any limit set by Congress can be deemed constitutional.