Editing Lawrence Lessig (section)

== Political background ==
[[File:Jonathan Zittrain and Lawrence Lessig (Google DC, March 20 2008).jpg|thumbnail|Harvard internet law professor [[Jonathan Zittrain]] and Lessig in 2008]]

Lessig has emphasized in interviews that his study of philosophy at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] radically changed his values and career path. Previously, he had held strong conservative or [[libertarianism|libertarian]] political views, desired a career in business, was a highly active member of [[Teenage Republicans]], served as the 1978 youth governor for Pennsylvania through the [[YMCA Youth and Government]] program,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ymcapa.org/ |title=YMCA Youth and Government Pennsylvania (PA State YMCA) |publisher=Ymcapa.org |access-date=2011-01-23 |archive-date=October 22, 2008 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20081022072323/http%3A//www.ymcapa.org/YouthAndGovernment.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and almost pursued a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] political career.

Since studying philosophy at Cambridge in the mid-1980s, Lessig has been politically [[Liberalism in the United States|liberal]]. What was intended to be a year abroad at Cambridge convinced him instead to stay another two years to complete an undergraduate degree in philosophy and develop his changing political values. During this time, he also traveled in the [[Eastern Bloc]], where he acquired a lifelong interest in [[Eastern Europe]]an law and politics.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lessig.medium.com/cuba-2024-e7a1f0ad350f |title=Cuba, 2024. I traveled to Cuba for the first time… by Lessig Medium |date=April 2, 2024 |publisher=Medium |access-date=2024-08-10}}</ref>

By the late 1980s, two influential [[Conservatism|conservative]] judges, Judge [[Richard Posner]] and Justice [[Antonin Scalia]], selected him to serve as a [[law clerk]], choosing him because they considered him brilliant, rather than for his ideology, and effectively making him the "token liberal" on their respective staffs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://abovethelaw.com/2010/09/supreme-court-clerk-hiring-how-political-is-it/|title=Supreme Court Clerk Hiring: Is It Becoming More Political?|work=Above the Law|date=September 7, 2010 |access-date=January 13, 2016|archive-date=March 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309081226/http://abovethelaw.com/2010/09/supreme-court-clerk-hiring-how-political-is-it/|url-status=live}}</ref> Later, Posner would call Lessig "the most distinguished law professor of his generation."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/10.10/lessig_pr.html|title=Lawrence Lessig's Supreme Showdown|author=Steven Levy|date=October 1, 2002|magazine=WIRED|access-date=January 13, 2016|archive-date=October 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025135138/http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/10.10/lessig_pr.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Lessig remains skeptical of government intervention, but favors some regulation, calling himself "a constitutionalist". On one occasion, Lessig also commended the [[John McCain]] campaign for discussing [[fair use]] rights in a letter to [[YouTube]] where it took issue with YouTube for indulging overreaching copyright claims that led to the removal of various campaign videos.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lessig |first=Lawrence |url=http://lessig.org/blog/2008/10/mccainpalin_to_youtube_get_rea.html |title=McCain/Palin to YouTube: Get real (Lessig Blog) |publisher=Lessig.org |date=2008-10-13 |access-date=2011-01-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521070933/http://lessig.org/blog/2008/10/mccainpalin_to_youtube_get_rea.html |archive-date=May 21, 2011}}</ref>