Petitioners suggest that, although the CTEA's term is not impermissibly long, future courts might be unable to distinguish "limited Times" such as the CTEA's term from hypothetically unlimited, perpetual copyrights that Congress might someday enact. Congress has significantly revised the federal copyright term only five times in 210 years, however, and there is no basis for believing that upholding the CTEA would either lead Congress to adopt unlimited copyright extensions or require the courts to uphold such extensions.

Ultimately, petitioners wish to displace Congress's preference for copyright-based dissemination of works during the CTEA's prescribed proprietary term, and instead to allow indiscriminate exploitation by public domain copyists like petitioners. But the Constitution assigns such policy choices to Congress, not the courts.

II. The CTEA does not impermissibly abridge freedom of speech. All copyright law, including the CTEA, protects authors' writings from unrestricted exploitation by others for "limited Times." This Court has recognized that the copyright system does not offend the First Amendment because it allows unrestricted use of the ideas and facts within copyrighted works, and also allows "fair use" of copy-righted expression itself. Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters., 471 U.S. 539 (1985). Since the CTEA fully preserves copyright's traditional safeguards for free speech, it satisfies First Amendment standards under this Court's jurisprudence.