Well John, I’m glad to see my Republican counterparts suddenly start caring about due process and protecting the rights of defendants, though I’m sorry it took the proper execution of a lawfully obtained search warrant against their leader for them to rally to the cause.
If Republicans truly want to take a stand for defendants’ rights, they should immediately sign onto the Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act, a bill I introduced with Rep. Jamaal Bowman to prevent artistic expression from being used against artists in court.
I was a criminal defense attorney for 27 years and a judge before I was elected to Congress. I’ve seen firsthand how our justice system treats defendants. Overzealous prosecutors have been known to appeal to bias and prejudice to gain a conviction. And sometimes, unfair and prejudicial information is brought up in the form of prior artistic expression.
No artist should be prosecuted because of something they wrote or said as an artistic expression, in the voice of a character or persona, or in a performance.
Free speech should not lead to a person being penalized by the government. I’d wager that every Republican in Congress would agree with that statement. So now, it’s time for them to put up.
If they truly care about due process, they’ll join my bill. If not, then maybe their recent outrage isn’t about protecting defendants at all – maybe it’s just about protecting one person in particular.
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Thank you for your support, John.
Hank Johnson
(he/him)
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