Posted on 07/10/2025 2:57:23 AM PDT by george76
A man who was convicted for sharing memes during the 2016 election is about to be set free after being sentenced to seven months in prison.
Douglass Mackey was found guilty of conspiracy for disseminating memes suggesting that Democrats could vote for then-candidate Hillary Clinton through text messages, social media, and other invalid methods. Prosecutors argued that Mackey conspired with others to post the fraudulent messages on X between September and November 2016.
One of the memes featured an “African Americans for Hillary” sign and suggested that voters text “Hillary” to 59925 to “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home.” Another meme was in Spanish, asking Hispanic voters to do the same. About 4,900 people texted the provided number before November 5, 2016.
Now, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed Mackey’s conviction. “On appeal, Mackey argues, inter alia, that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he knowingly agreed to join the charged conspiracy. We agree,” the court’s ruling read.
The court not only reversed Mackey’s conviction but also remanded the case to the district court to acquit him.
The court’s ruling held that the government failed to prove Mackey knowingly joined a conspiracy to suppress votes for Clinton. He did admit to posting the memes. However, the judges argued that this alone is not a crime under the statute for which he was convicted, which requires an actual agreement between “two or more persons” with the express purpose of violating voting rights.
...
The court also found that the government did not present direct evidence proving Mackey saw or responded to private group chats in a forum titled the “War Room.” Users in this group chat discussed similar memes.
Instead, Mackey told the court he had downloaded the memes from 4chan without collaborating with any group. “The government did not contend at trial that Mackey ever communicated with members of the War Room offline, or that he participated in any online discussions with them outside of the War Room related to the conspiracy,” the judges highlighted.
...
Even further, the judges pointed out that when Mackey posted the memes, he used the #MAGA hashtag, which contradicts the notion that he was trying to trick Democrats into voting from home. “Including that hashtag alongside a text-to-vote meme is fundamentally at odds with a purpose of deceiving Clinton supporters into believing they could vote by text,” the ruling read.
The fact that Mackey had to spend any time in prison for sharing memes is absurd and a clear miscarriage of justice. But it is not surprising given what we now know about the FBI and Justice Department’s actions after Trump won the election. It was clear that many officials abused their positions to target those with opposing political views.
It’s good that Mackey has been vindicated. But he can’t get those months back when he was incarcerated. Hopefully, a lawsuit is coming next.
So far, I’m not tired of the winning.
Let the lawsuits begin. Mackey is going to win big for his 1st amendment rights being violated.
“About 4,900 people texted the provided number before November 5, 2016.”
Wow!
Political speech is next to religious speech protected by the first amendment.
I keep saying NYC can’t get any worse:
COVID—putting sick in with elderly
Then
knockout games
Then
Trump charged with sexual assault despite no evidence
Then
Trump charged with..I’m still confused exactly what they said he did
Then
NYC elects a commie for mayoral candidate
Then
This
Then…it never stops apparently. A cesspool of far leftists
Another one of the Biden regime’s political prisoners being set free, soon, I hope.
I’m sure there are many more.
Have ALL the J6 political prisoners been released from the DC gulags?
Th3 question is, will the judge be held accountable for vio.ating his first amendment rights?
Pardon?
This is a great result but its incredibly frustrating that the leadership of the Biden-Garland DOJ is not going to be held accountable. This case is a prime example of how the Biden-Garland DOJ was weaponized against the Dems’ political enemies even at the lowest level.
DemocRATS locking Republicans up for jokes while their supporters burn down cities with impunity.
BREAKING: Douglass Mackey to sue DOJ over meme prosecution
"Mackey, who had been sentenced to seven months in prison over a meme he posted during the 2016 election season, said he intends to hold the DOJ and FBI accountable for what he calls a politically motivated prosecution."
https://humanevents.com/2025/07/09/breaking-douglass-mackey-to-sue-doj-over-meme-prosecution?utm_campaign=64466
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