Aaron Swartz has a transcript of Eldred vs Ashcroft, argued before the Supreme Court October 9, 2002:

Thanks to some friends, I've been able to get a copy of the Eldred case transcript. I've cleaned it up, added the names of the justices where possible (searching my memory, the responses in the text, and press reports) and HTMLized it. So, I'm probably not supposed to post this but I feel doing so will promote the progress of science and the useful arts, so here goes:

ERIC ELDRED, ET AL., Petitioners
v.
JOHN D. ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL
No. 01-618

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

2002 U.S. TRANS LEXIS 47

October 9, 2002, Wednesday, Washington, D.C.

NOTICE: [*1] Transcribed by Alderson Reporting Company, Inc., 1111 14th Street, N.W., Suite 400, Washington D.C. 20005-5603, Telephone Number: 202-289-2260

The above-entitled matter came on for oral argument before the Supreme Court of the United States at 10:03 a.m.

APPEARANCES: LAWRENCE LESSIG, ESQ., Stanford, California; on behalf of the Petitioners.

THEODORE B. OLSON, ESQ., Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; on behalf of the Respondent.

OPINION: PROCEEDINGS

(10:03 a.m.)

CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST: We'll hear argument now in Number 01-618, Eric Eldred v. John D. Ashcroft.

Mr. Lessig.

ORAL ARGUMENT OF LAWRENCE LESSIG
ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONERS
MR. LESSIG: Mr. Chief Justice, may it please the Court:

Petitioners are before you this morning challenging Congress's 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended the term of subsisting and future copyrights by 20 years. Petitioners submit such a blanket extension of existing terms exceeds Congress's power under the Copyright Clause and it violates the First Amendment.

Now, the Government has responded to petitioners' argument in a way that betrays a simple but fundamental confusion. The Government [*2] has argued as if petitioners had advanced a general theory of the Copyright Clause, or a general constraint under which Congress must operate. That is a mistake. This case is about limits to an enumerated power. It's not about general power of Congress to exercise its copyright authority. Petitioners have advanced a particular interpretation of the only express limits in the Copyright Clause designed to give those limits meaning.

JUSTICE O'CONNOR: Mr. Lessig, I'll tell you what bothers me about your position, and that is that Congress has extended the term so often through the years, and if you are right, don't we run the risk of upsetting previous extensions of time? I mean, this seems to be a practice that began with the very first act.

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