A coalition of hip-hop’s biggest names is demanding the Supreme Court intervene in a Texas death row case, arguing that prosecutors unconstitutionally used rap lyrics to secure a death sentence. Travis Scott, Killer Mike, Young Thug, and T.I. are among more than 30 artists who filed amicus briefs with the nation’s highest court, urging justices to review the case of James Garfield Broadnax before his scheduled April 30 execution.
The briefs, filed March 9, 2026, argue that Broadnax’s First Amendment rights were violated when a nearly all-white jury considered 40 pages of his handwritten rap lyrics during the punishment phase of his 2009 trial. The case has become a flashpoint in the ongoing national debate over whether artistic expression, particularly from Black artists, can be treated as literal evidence of criminal intent.
Broadnax was just 19 years old when he was convicted of killing two men during a 2008 robbery near Garland, Texas. The prosecution had already eliminated all prospective Black jurors, leaving him with a predominantly white panel. After finding him guilty, those same jurors moved to the punishment phase, where prosecutors introduced Broadnax’s rap lyrics to determine whether he should live or die.
The jury requested to review the 40 pages of lyrics twice during deliberations. Hours later, they returned with a death sentence instead of life without parole.
As the Supreme Court to review death row case looms as a possibility, Scott’s legal team laid out the stakes in stark terms. “The prosecutors argued Mr. Broadnax was likely to be dangerous in the future simply because he engaged in ‘gangster rap,'” the brief states. “Such an argument functionally operates as a categorical and straightforwardly unconstitutional content-based penalty on rap music as a form of expression.”
Scott filed his own amicus brief through attorney Alex Spiro, who has also represented Jay-Z. A separate brief was filed on behalf of Killer Mike, Young Thug, T.I., Fat Joe, N.O.R.E., and numerous music scholars and arts organizations.
The second brief argues that the lyrics were irrelevant to the case since they weren’t used during the guilt-or-innocence phase. Instead, prosecutors wielded them to “stoke racial and anti-rap bias” and capitalize on “anti-Black bias triggered by rap music.”
“Exaggerated tales of violence, sex, and criminal behavior sell to a broad swath of Americans, and any would-be gangsta rapper must learn and practice these conventions of the form,” the brief reads.
Killer Mike expanded on the point outside the courtroom. “No matter how beautiful it sounds, or how horrific it may sound, it’s still just art,” he said. “It’s an interpretation of the human spirit. It is not an admission of guilt.”
He drew comparisons to other genres, noting that Johnny Cash famously sang about shooting a man in Reno just to watch him die, and Bob Marley sang about shooting the sheriff, yet neither faced criminal charges for their lyrics.
Scott’s brief emphasizes that rap music is “primarily created by and historically associated with minority artists” and is protected by the First Amendment. Criminalizing the genre, the argument goes, infringes on those rights. The Supreme Court is being asked to “clarify the constitutional limits” of using “protected artistic expression as evidence of criminal propensity.”
Ellyde R. Thompson, an attorney representing Scott, stated flatly: “A death sentence should never be based in any part on constitutionally protected artistic expression.”
Chad Baruch, counsel for the Killer Mike brief, framed the case as a historic opportunity. “This case presents an ideal vehicle for the Supreme Court, once and for all, to plunge a much-needed dagger through the heart of the criminalization of rap as an art form,” he said.
Texas prosecutors have pushed back, arguing that Broadnax’s attorneys waited too long to raise objections over the lyrics. They maintain the lyrics were used in only a small portion of their arguments and were relevant to proving Broadnax posed a continuing danger to society, a legal requirement for imposing the death penalty in Texas.
The Broadnax case arrives amid broader scrutiny of how the legal system treats rap lyrics. Last year’s YSL RICO trial in Georgia put the issue front and center, with prosecutors using Young Thug’s own songs as evidence against him. Music executives including Kevin Liles have advocated for legislation at both state and federal levels to limit or ban the practice.
In the United Kingdom, the House of Lords is currently debating an amendment that would make lyrics practically inadmissible in criminal proceedings, a measure supported by the Art Not Evidence campaign.
Broadnax, now 37, has spent nearly half his life on death row. His lawyers have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, essentially asking the Supreme Court to review the lower court’s decision. If granted, the case could set a landmark precedent for how artistic expression is treated in American courtrooms.
If not, Broadnax faces lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, on April 30, 2026. For the rappers who’ve rallied to his cause, the outcome will determine not just one man’s fate, but the future of an entire art form.
“We don’t trust an environment where we allow art to bleed into the sentencing phase,” Killer Mike said. “I said a bunch of stuff that I thought was hard-core. I’m grateful I was never held against it.”
