The boundaries of academic freedom may be greatly constrained by the US Supreme Court in 2006 in the "Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings v. Metabolite Laboratories Inc." case, which threatens the essence of campus life, namely, the freedom to think and publish. The case highlights the fact that by considering publishing and thinking about a law of nature to be actionable under patent law, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which hears all patent appeals, severely threatened academic freedom.