The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday overturned the conviction of Douglass Mackey, the Trump-supporting internet troll who was prosecuted for posting satirical memes targeting Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Mackey, who went by the handle “Ricky Vaughn” during the 2016 election cycle, had posted humorous memes urging Hillary Clinton’s supporters to “avoid the line and vote from home” by texting “Hillary” to a certain number.
Biden-era prosecutors argued that Mackey’s memes were part of a “coordinated scheme to suppress votes,” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 241, a law dating back to Reconstruction.
On March 31, 2023, a federal jury in Brooklyn found Mackey guilty of “Conspiracy Against Rights” in a “scheme to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote.”
“Mackey has been found guilty by a jury of his peers of attempting to deprive individuals from exercising their sacred right to vote for the candidate of their choice in the 2016 Presidential Election,” stated then- United States Attorney Breon Peace at the time. “Today’s verdict proves that the defendant’s fraudulent actions crossed a line into criminality and flatly rejects his cynical attempt to use the constitutional right of free speech as a shield for his scheme to subvert the ballot box and suppress the vote.”
Mackey faced a maximum of 10 years in prison for his role in the so-called “conspiracy.”
He was ultimately sentenced to seven months in prison in October 2023.
Tucker Carlson at the time called the verdict against Mackey “the most shocking attack on freedom of speech in our lifetimes,” pointing out that there was no evidence anyone’s “sacred right” to vote was impinged by Mackey retweeting a meme.
On Wednesday, the Appeals Court ruled that the government failed to prove that Mackey knowingly joined a conspiracy, a requirement under 18 U.S.C. § 241.
“The mere fact that Mackey posted the memes, even assuming that he did so with the intent to injure other citizens in the exercise of their right to vote, is not enough, standing alone, to prove a violation of Section 241,” wrote Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston in the court’s opinion. Because Section 241 applies only to conspiracies involving “two or more persons,” the government had to prove that Mackey entered into an agreement with others, a threshold it did not meet.
Prosecutors had attempted to link Mackey’s posts to discussions in private Twitter message groups like War Room, Madman #2 or Micro Chat, but the Appeals Court found no evidence that Mackey saw or took part in any of the conversations that formed a conspiracy.
“Mackey did not send any messages in the War Room in the two weeks before he tweeted the text-to-vote memes,” the Court stated.
Mackey at the time described himself as a “troll,” “shitposter,” or “shitlord,” who posted “a lot of stuff” to “distract or get the conversation going.”
“A Section 241 conviction requires proof that the defendant knowingly entered into an unlawful agreement,” the court concluded. “Here, no rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The Appeal’s Court sent the case back to the district court with instructions to enter a judgment of acquittal.
Mackey celebrated the ruling as an affirmation of First Amendment protections and a rebuke of the Biden administration’s weaponization of the Justice system to target political opponents.
“This judgment by the highly respected Second Circuit Court of Appeals totally vindicates my defense all along: I never joined a conspiracy to steal votes and never intended to steal anyone’s vote,” he told Revolver News following the decision. “Memes are jokes, not crimes, and should be protected free speech. More importantly, this decision pounds another nail into the coffin of government weaponization and politicization against President Donald J. Trump and his supporters. I look forward to further vindication in the weeks and months ahead as I turn my sights towards a long train of abuses by the EDNY and FBI.”
“The EDNY improperly tried to use LAWFUL and legitimate political speech to support their bogus meme conspiracy theory,” he later posted on X. “Shame!”