In the Supreme Court of the United States: Anthony Douglas Elonis, Petitioner, v. United States, Respondent: On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Abstract

This is an amicus brief on rap music for an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case (submitted via the University of Florida’s Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project).

The history and conventions of rap music, the heavily stigmatized artistic and often political genre of musical expression through which Petitioner Anthony Douglas Elonis conveyed much of the speech at issue in this case, illustrate why the Court should: a) require proof of the defendant-speaker’s subjective intent to threaten under both the First Amendment-based true threats doctrine and 18 U.S.C. § 875(c); and b) reverse the decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in United States v. Elonis, 730 F.3d 321 (3d Cir. 2013).

Keywords: rap music, hip hop, Supreme Court