DETROIT, MI -- U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts last week recited lyrics from a dark and disturbing Eminem song released in 1999 as he questioned lawyers during oral arguments in a case that involves artistic use of violent language.

The case was brought to the high court by Anthony Elonis, a Pennsylvania man who was convicted of making threats to his estranged wife, former co-workers, police and an FBI agent, based on a series of Facebook postings in 2010.

Sentenced to more than three years in prison, Elonis argued in his appeals that he did not intend the postings as threats, claiming they were posted in lyrical form, like rap verses.

One of the postings read:

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the First Amendment case Dec. 1, and released the audio at the end of the week.

Roberts, while questioning Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben, recited lyrics from the song "97' Bonnie & Clyde," from Detroit rapper Eminem's first major album, The Slim Shady LP.

It's a song that, along with its prequel "Kim," Eminem has described as a "bugged-out" love story.

"What about the language at pages 54 to 55 of the Petitioner's brief?," Roberts asked Dreeben.

"You know: 'Dada make a nice bed for mommy at the bottom of the lake, tie a rope around a rock' -- this is during the context of a domestic dispute between a husband and wife. 'There goes mama splashing in the water, no more fighting with dad,' you know, all that stuff. Now, under your test, could that be prosecuted?"

"No, because if you look at the context of these statements," replied Dreeben before being cut off by Roberts.

"Because Eminem said it instead of somebody else?" asked Roberts.

"Because Eminem said it at a concert where people are going to be entertained," answered Dreeben. "This is a critical part of the context. It wasn't as if he stated it to her in private or on a Facebook page after having received a protection from abuse order. It wasn't as if he appropriated a style of rap that wasn't anything that he had been doing previously in the marriage and all of a sudden tried to express violent statements that way. In the context, I think any reasonable person would conclude at a minimum that there is ambiguity about these statements being a serious intention of an expression to do harm."

The audio clip is in the video above. The video below includes the full audio of the hearing, which runs over an hour.

The portion involving Eminem's music begins around the 48-minute mark.

A full transcript of the hearing is available here.

