They certainly don't have to matter, and the ideal tech works with or without government approval.

But many people who are on the fence will err on the side of doing the "legal" thing, even if it means giving up freedom, so while we still can I think it's valuable to fight legal battles like this and raise community awareness.

Code can be brutal law sometimes. It gets gray when there is a mistake and the wrong person is in possession of data (i.e. funds) that do not "rightfully" belong to them. (Granted this hinges on the definition of "rightful".) In such a case you have no other recourse than to appeal to a real-life court or appeal to the honesty and goodwill of the adversary. The recent mishap with F2Pool is an example that I think showed the Golden Way. I don't agree with those who said F2Pool should have kept the incorrect fee; when the tech enforces brutal justice, it devolves upon human beings to show mercy. As this brings out the best in people, it obviates the need for courts, and I think that is a beautiful thing. But a dog-eat-dog world without courts where code is law could be extremely harsh. The moral of the story is: let us all strive to live in a way that makes courts unnecessary.