Lessig Considers Run for Congress

Lawrence Lessig, the Stanford legal scholar known for his work in cyber and copyright law, said Tuesday that he was strongly considering a run for Congress, an announcement that comes a week after Harvard cyberlaw professor John G. Palfrey, Jr. ’94 started a “Draft Lessig” movement to encourage him to seek office.

Lessig, who left Harvard Law School for its west coast rival in 2000, has developed a loyal following for his attacks on the American copyright law regime, which he blames for stifling creativity and threatening the development of culture. Since leaving, Lessig has maintained close ties to the Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, where Palfrey serves as executive director.

“Lawrence Lessig is a great American and would make a great member of Congress,” Palfrey said yesterday. “We would be sorry to see him leave academia, but he will have a great public service career ahead of him if he decides to take on this challenge.”

The movement has received overwhelming support, according to Palfrey.

As part of the “Draft Lessig” movement, Palfrey started a blog and created a Facebook group, which garnered 1,000 members in the first 24 hours. At press time, more than 3,559 people had joined the group.

Palfrey said the next phase in the campaign would be to get 1,000 people to pledge to volunteer or donate money to Lessig’s campaign.

Law professor Jonathan L. Zittrain, faculty co-director of the Berkman Center, also expressed support for his Stanford counterpart, saying that Lessig is passionate about politics.

“[Lessig] has down the part that can be elusive to many candidates: a message,” Zittrain said. “His focus on what he calls corruption couldn’t be better timed, given public sentiment this election cycle.”

Lessig, famous for bringing a 2003 case that unsuccessfully challenged prevailing U.S. copyright law, is the founder of Creative Commons, a non-profit organization that allows copyright holders to provide some or all of the rights to their work online for free.

Last summer, Lessig surprised many of his longtime admirers by announcing that he would shift his scholarly focus from copyright and cyber law to the issue of political corruption. He cited the influence of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and former Vice President Al Gore ’69 for inspiring him to shift his focus “for at least the next 10 years.”

Lessig said that his run for Congress would be part of a larger movement, dubbed “Change Congress,” which he launched in a 10-minute video hosted on his Web site, Lessig08.org. The goal of this movement, he said, is to get politicians to agree to refuse money from lobbyists, ban “earmarks” and support public financing of campaigns.

Lessig said he will decide whether to make his run by March 1.

The district in which Lessig would make a bid—California’s 12th—stretches from the south of San Francisco to San Mateo.

The seat opened up when its former occupant, Democrat Thomas P. Lantos, who had held the seat since 1981, died earlier this month. A special election for the seat is scheduled for June 3.

If he decides to mount a bid, Lessig would face off against Jackie Speier, a 30-year veteran of local politics who has already announced her candidacy. In his video, Lessig had kind words for his potential foe, saying she has been an “extraordinarily good state senator.”

—Staff writer Jamison A. Hill can be reached at jahill@fas.harvard.edu.