Both the more general premise (a work must not be an infringement of someone else’s work to be a work subject to copyright) and the more specific premise (court

Both the more general premise (a work must not be an infringement of someone else’s work to be a work subject to copyright) and the more specific premise (court decisions are subject to copyright in the United States) in your argument for why verbatim selection from a court decision is not analogous, for copyright, to a sculptor carving from a block of material are wrong, though.