After nearly a decade of legal hell, Douglass Mackey finally received justice this week when the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his conviction for posting a meme on Twitter during the 2016 election. While the ruling is a major victory for free speech and common sense, Mackey’s ordeal is a reminder of the continuing threat of the left’s authoritarian and anti-First Amendment impulses.
Mackey’s story reads like something out of an Orwellian nightmare. Operating under the online alias “Ricky Vaughn,” he was part of the irreverent meme culture that exploded during the 2016 presidential election. His most infamous post was a tongue-in-cheek graphic designed to look like a Hillary Clinton campaign ad: “Avoid the Line—Vote from Home! Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925.”
It was obvious satire – no state permits voting by text – but the Biden Department of Justice treated it as criminal “election interference.”
Moreover, Because Mackey’s private chat included other meme makers, the DOJ piled on a Civil War-era “conspiracy against rights” count – a charge stemming from legislation written to stop the Ku Klux Klan from burning polling places, not to regulate edgy internet jokes. The statute carries a potential 10-year sentence.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member