In the case of Decker, U.S. District Judge, et al. v. Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., et al., 1970, the Supreme Court was asked to consider whether a district judge's decision to release grand jury transcripts in a high-profile criminal trial violated copyright laws held by Harper & Row Publishers who had exclusive rights to publish an autobiography of one of the defendants involved in that trial. The defendant’s autobiography contained direct quotes from those same transcripts and thus would be directly impacted by their public release. The court ruled against Judge Decker and his associates stating that they did not have authority under Rule 6(e) of Federal Rules for Criminal Procedure or inherent power as a federal court to disclose grand jury minutes without regard for existing copyrights on such material.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Decker v. Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., argued that the majority's decision to uphold copyright infringement claims against a judge and his law clerk for using substantial portions of copyrighted works in their legal opinions was overly restrictive and potentially harmful to the free exchange of ideas necessary for judicial reasoning. The dissent contended that such use should be considered fair use under copyright law because it is not commercial in nature, does not harm the market value of copyrighted works, and serves important public interests by contributing to legal discourse. They also expressed concern about potential chilling effects on judges' ability to draw upon existing literature when crafting their decisions if they must constantly fear potential litigation from copyright holders.