Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Karan Kuppa-Apte & Edan Kauer
“In American courtrooms today, song lyrics are being treated as confessions and fiction is being read as fact. On July 24, Reps. Hank Johnson (GA-04) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37) reintroduced the Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act, a bill aimed at reining in a surreal injustice in the American legal system — using artists’ creative fiction as evidence against them at trial. This is not a hypothetical. As of June of this year, courts have seen over 820 cases where lyrics and other artistic work were presented as supposed proof of guilt. That number doesn’t include what’s buried in sealed records or never covered by the press. These aren’t smoking guns either — they’re lines from songs.” (08/05/25)