In a major victory for free speech defenders, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction of conservative influencer Douglass Mackey.
See the tweet below.
This victory for free speech rights comes after Mackey was wrongfully imprisoned for posting political memes during the 2016 election.
A three-judge panel on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ordered a judgment of acquittal for Mackey, who had been sentenced to seven months in prison for allegedly posting misleading memes about voting.
The court found prosecutors failed to provide sufficient evidence that Mackey participated in any conspiracy to suppress Democrat voters, effectively invalidating his March 2023 conviction for conspiracy against rights.
The case stemmed from humorous memes Mackey posted online under the alias “Ricky Vaughn” suggesting that Democrat supporters could vote by text message.
Although prosecutors claimed these posts were part of a sinister plot to suppress votes, the court found no evidence that anyone was actually misled into not voting properly through traditional means.
The judges made it clear in their ruling that simply posting political content online— even content that some might find objectionable—does not constitute an illegal conspiracy.
Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston and Judges Reena Raggi and Beth Robinson stated:
“The mere fact that he 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 the conspiracy law. The government was obligated to show that Mackey knowingly entered into an agreement with other people to pursue that objective. This the government failed to do.”
The panel, which included appointees from both Republican and Democrat presidents, unanimously agreed that prosecutors had failed to prove their case.
They found no evidence that Mackey participated in private Twitter group messages that were presented as evidence of conspiracy.
In fact, approximately 5,000 people who followed the meme’s instructions received automated warnings that the text voting method was invalid.
The left-leaning trial judge, Ann M. Donnelly, had previously characterized Mackey as “one of the leading members of a conspiracy that was nothing short of an assault on our democracy.”
The appeals court’s decision thoroughly rejected this hyperbolic characterization, finding no evidence to support such claims.
2nd Circuit has overturned the conviction of Douglass Mackey in the fake "conspiracy" to defraud voters by posting MEMES about voting-by-text. The Feds prosecuted him in NYC because the Twitter *servers* were there.
A victory for free speech and a loss for bogus prosecutions. pic.twitter.com/iB8dlUr2Dl
— Maxwell Meyer (@mualphaxi) July 9, 2025
Mackey, who had 58,000 followers on social media at the time of the 2016 election, expressed relief following the court’s decision.
“Praise God. God is good. Now we sue,” he said, signaling his intention to hold accountable those responsible for his wrongful prosecution.
Meanwhile, the Eastern District of New York, which brought this politically motivated case, declined to comment on its humiliating defeat.
The case highlights growing concerns about the federal government’s targeting of conservative voices on social media.
Many patriots view Mackey’s prosecution as part of a broader pattern of government intimidation aimed at silencing opposition to leftist policies.
Fortunately, the appeals court has delivered a powerful rebuke to these tactics by overturning Mackey’s conviction and reaffirming Americans’ right to free speech online.
