Appeals Court Overturns Douglass Mackey Meme Case

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the conviction of Douglass Mackey, who posted satirical 'vote by text' memes during the 2016 presidential election, ruling that the government failed to prove he knowingly conspired with others to suppress votes. The court emphasized that merely posting misleading memes did not satisfy the legal requirements for conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 241, especially as the memes were already circulating online and Mackey was not shown to have participated in any private message groups for coordination. Mackey, previously sentenced to seven months in prison, celebrated the decision as a victory for free speech and the First Amendment, and announced plans to seek redress from the Justice Department. The case drew criticism from those who saw the prosecution as an overreach by the Biden-era DOJ against political speech. The ruling is widely seen as an important reaffirmation of the distinction between criminal conspiracy and protected online expression. The decision was authored by a bipartisan panel of judges.