Supreme Court to hear First Amendment case on violent Facebook rap lyrics

AlJazeera

The Supreme Court on Monday was set to hear arguments on violent rap lyrics posted to Facebook — a case that could redraw the boundaries between protected free speech, criminal threats made over social media and the latitude that is often granted for artistic expression.

The case involves Pennsylvania resident Anthony Elonis, who was sentenced to four years in prison for posting explicit rap lyrics in which he threatened to murder his estranged wife, shoot up elementary schools and slit the throat of an FBI agent who was investigating his case. He was convicted in federal court on five counts of transmitting interstate threats — over the Internet, in this case — “to injure the person of another.”