The background of the insufferable case is HERE and HERE.
Today, the second circuit court of appeals finally overturns one of the most ridiculous Obama/Biden dystopian lawfare cases against the first amendment. Defendant Douglass Mackey wins his appeal and the case is dismissed [RULING HERE]
The ridiculous case was against Douglass Mackey, aka Twitter user Ricky Vaughn, who posted a silly meme against Hillary Clinton in 2016. The Biden DOJ prosecuted Mackey saying he was part of a conspiracy to rob Clinton of the election, by posting memes of disinformation around the election.
Mackey was tried and convicted in New York; however, finally an appeals court looked at the stupidity of it and ruled in his favor, sending the case back to the lower court for dismissal.
Literally all the guy did was post snarky memes poking fun of democrats and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election… However, the United States government claimed: “the defendant exploited a social media platform to infringe one the of most basic and sacred rights guaranteed by the Constitution: the right to vote.”
After the jury remained deadlocked for three days, and after thrice telling the judge they were deadlocked, Judge Ann Donnelly threatened not to release them from duty unless and until they came to a decision on guilt. The jury in 2023 subsequently found Douglass Mackey, a 33-year-old who went by the name Ricky Vaughn on Twitter and a resident of Florida (insert DeSantis silence here), guilty of creating a meme against the interests of the U.S. government.
what are the repurcussions to the malicious prosecutor and corrupt judge
Better yet would be to finally prosecute the Evil Hag with the blue dress staining husband. Of anyone in modern history who needs to be inside a prison cell its that sow.
You forgot about the jury…
Juries are generally populated with stupid people. The blame STILL goes to the prosecution and the judge who BOTH know the actual law and the limits thereof. Don’t expect the unprofessional, civilian jurists who may or may not have been biased to do anything other than follow their instructions. And we’ve followed MANY cases here on the treehouse and more than once we’ve seen major problems with jury instructions issued by judges. Most recently came in the form of something like “you don’t have to agree on WHICH crime was committed by Trump, you only have to agree that at least one of these crimes was committed by Trump to find him guilty of the crimes we are charging him.”
Do you know what happens to a jury candidate who mentions “jury nullification”? They are disqualified and sent home immediately. They do everything they can to prevent qualified jurists from the jury.
The trial was in Brooklyn, New York so you can guarantee they were biased against the defendant.
The Jury probable all voted by Text for Hillary after seeing the Meme and were made fun of by their peers.
https://www.justice.gov/crt/deprivation-rights-under-color-law
Weak but he may be compensated in some large amount… nothing that would make Ukraine jealous though.
I think we absolutely need to see genuine punishment issued against these legal professionals who have abused their power and the ignorance of others for political ends. In the medical field, it would be called “malpractice” and they’d lose their license to practice medicine. But these guys? They get all sorts of immunity and a system that likes to protect its own.
Hopefully everyone involved has been fired from DOJ.
“This case was investigated by the FBI.”
“This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Erik D. Paulsen and F. Turner Buford of the Eastern District of New York’s Public Integrity Section and Trial Attorney William J. Gullotta of the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section.”
Yooo Hooo…President Trump…… have Bondi Beach-Blonde fire these abovementioned “career lawyers who are above reproach”.
Malpractice does not necessarily mean physician loses license or is disciplined. Malpractice insurance carrier pays. Government has sovereign immunity (with complex process to seek exemption from it). Most sovereign governments self insure which leaves the taxpayer on the hook to pay the damages for government employees’ negligent acts. Intentional acts of government employees may be prosecuted as crimes if deception, fraud intentional misrepresentation, embezzlement, conspiracy, theft, etc can be proven
Exactly except he’d need an AUSA & an AG to get there from here. 🦗🦗 🦗
That my friend is the question for the future of the country. If these people remain, then what’s stopping this from happening again?…Trump is a stop gap. We must push to change the way we govern ourselves. Period.
None – the process was the punishment and the prosecutor and judge were in on the persecution.
It certainly could get rid of some serious rot on the bench and bar. Holding them all accountable and going after every dime they have civilly. Even the offshore parking.
At the end of a claw hammer and 1″ thick rope.
Sure hope that he files a lawsuit to obtain compernsation for his disruption in life which included incarceration.
He plans on it
https://humanevents.com/2025/07/09/breaking-douglass-mackey-to-sue-doj-over-meme-prosecution
From what I’ve seen of the democrat’s base, the case was potentially not all that ridiculous. From my basic observations, most of those likely voters really are gullible enough to believe something as totally unbelievable as “ricky’s” post.
Considering the strongest base in the dem party is single educated white women, it’s telling of our
educationindoctrination system.AWFLs ain’t that sharp…just their cheekbones and elbows…
The DOJ never produced a cast ballot in the trial and the judge didn’t require one to proceed!
Thank the Lord. I am so glad he kept fighting the guilty verdict. The process is the punishment.
Now to go after the prosecutors that went after this guy. Demote or disbar, I don’t care.
If they don’t have enough knowledge of the Constitution to have realized this was political persecution and not prosecution, they do not deserve to have a law licenses and are a danger to the American people.
This is just the beginning in the process of dismantling the “Deep State” and the ultimate “draining of the swamp”. Its a long journey, but a journey no less.
Things like this has swamp creatures very nervous. Who and what is next?
Because a who and what is next. There is no one and done.
It won’t make them nervous until they personally feel the consequences. Lawyer fees, losing jobs, etc. Until they feel the pain, they will not change.
The fix was in with a judge and jury in Brooklyn, NY. Now they can suffer the political and embarrassing fallout of having their verdict wiped out. But they have no shame and will have learned no lessons.
As the Circuit Court of Appeals said, “No rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” I guess the judge and jury were irrational.
NY city will get their punishment when they get a marxist mayor.
Good and hard.
Perfect example of “the process is the punishment.” Hope he collects millions in his civil suit even though we all will be paying for it.
I think its important to note that Jones Day provided his defense. They are one of the largest global law firms and a traditionally conservative one.
J-D is pretty liberal, but maybe conservative on a relative basis, which doesn’t mean much.
Liberal or not – the case was a slam dunk for a huge payout.
Sue the officials who brought the case personally, because this was an infringement of his civil rights, clearly out of bounds, and done for persecution’s sake.
He has no oath to the public to protect their interests; thus, any public comment “fooling” potential voters into acts of stupidity are NOT actionable as violations of those voters’ rights. This was a menacing prosecution, and the officials should defend themselves on their own dime against civil rights violations.
Aren’t they immune from civil litigation, just like a police officer is for carrying out their official duties ???
Outstanding! I like his chances!!
Such glorious news!!
Get out those DOJ checkbooks 👍🏻
And if this succeeds, don’t put them back….
J6 political prisoners incoming.
(If he lived in Britain or Germany, he’d he serving 20 to life with no hope of parole.)
Good!
All the J6er’s should make a class action suit against the DOJ!
9 years of his life and spending $$$$$.
Where’s the justice for him!
I ask again, when is PT going to give the American people justice from all the crimes committed by the DS over these past 8 years?
Nearly 15% of his Presidency is gone.
Pam is over her head, Americans need a special investigator maybe Ed Martin to investigate and prosecute the DS leaders for their crimes.
He won’t
Not an acceptable answer.
Yes and it will be glorious to witness.
Does he now have recourse to obtain damages from the government ?
Great to hear!!
Look for the Bondi DoJ to bring federal conspiracy against rights charges against these prosecutors.
(Just kidding)
God it was an awful charge
He should sue everyone involved for millions.
More proof that there is still hope for this country…pretty much because of PDJT.
It’s unreal the case got past 1st base
From https://reclaimthenet.org/court-overturns-douglass-mackey-meme-conviction
“The panel underscored that while Mackey’s memes may have been provocative, distasteful, or misleading, they were not inherently criminal.”
So the Appeals court found no basis for the conspiracy charges. But still found the memes to be “provocative, distasteful or misleading.” That’s bullshit. They were funny. And had become a common social media joke going back to the first social media platforms in the early 2000’s. Not novel, not new, not a “threat to democracy.” And not provocative, distasteful or misleading. They don’t even use that description for drag show reading hours to preschoolers in libraries. Talk about provocative, distasteful or misleading!!!!
They knew this wasn’t criminal from the beginning.
He was used as an example not to challenge the corrupt cabal.
10 years of govt abuse
Yes, more proof we’re in an abusive relationship with our government.
Posted this in Twitter the day his indictment was announced:
https://twitter.com/Farrier105/status/1354763678407684098
X says, “Something went wrong. Retry.” I did. 10 times. Still nothing. Is that shadowbanning?
It must be the original link from when Mackey was first indicted. It’s gone. I’ll write the same analysis again. It isn’t hard. I used the same logic when Smith indicted Trump for violating the same statute, 18 USC 241. Just can’t do it tonight, but some time tomorrow.
Here goes anyway. Trump was accused of this one in the J6 case by Smith:
“f two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same;
or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured–
They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both;
and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
This statute was created in the 1970s against the violent terrorism of the KKK. You can tell by the contents. It is a good statute to learn how to apply the “elements” of the statute to real life actions of people. We know what Mackey did do, but did he:
Injure anyone? No.
Oppress anyone? No.
Threaten anyone? No.
Intimidate anyone? No.
Did Mackey lurk about a highway, in disguise, or go on a person’s property in disguise to terrorize them? NO.
Did anyone get killed by what Mackey did? No.
Did Mackey kidnap, or try to kidnap anyone? No.
Did Mackey sexually assault anyone or try to sexually assault anyone? No.
Was anyone tried with Mackey, since this must be against two or more people? Unknown since no one else was named. They might have gotten John Doe indictments, but I don’t know. That would yet another strike against the prosecution.
It’s a simple IF/THEN/ELSE conditional statement like I learned in COBOL class. I got about 98.5% on the test of “statute application,” I guess you could call it, using pseudocode for my answers. I wanted to flowchart them, but they wouldn’t go that far in 1984.
My bad–The statute was written in the 1870s, not the 1970s.
It there’s proof of any corrupt judge facing persecution, please let me know.
To the DEM DoJ “Freedom of Humor” is not specified, so is not pritected.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution
is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects
the right of the people to Religion and Expression.
As ratified by the States:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and
to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
And the statute used to charge him did not fit anything he did with a meme. That’s even worse. The judge should have thrown it out in the preliminary hearings for that alone. Another violated Constitutional Amendment was the “due process” clause of the 14th Amendment as that comes into play by the prosecutor using a statute that has no element in it that fits the “charges” against Mackey.
I couldn’t believe this case was even brought… congratulations to Doug on his spectacular win. Incredibly sad that he had to go through this dystopian nightmare! I hope he will get compensation for the chunk of his life that was ruined!
P.S. He used to post here…
The thought police get thwarted. Now counter sue for malicious prosecution.
“The Biden DOJ prosecuted Mackey saying he was part of a conspiracy to rob Clinton of the election.”
The SAME DOJ looked the other way when Clinton started the Russia, Russia,Russia nonsense.
The DOJ did not look the other way, they took the Clinton campaign lies and used them as the basis for a years long legal harassment of Trump and his associates.
Yes!
Until we see accountability for this and those persecuted are made right and whole, there is no justice.
Our system cannot survive with the process being the punishment.
And most of those people still work there .
“Creating a meme against the interests of government” is a serious, prosecutable crime IN ENGLAND today.
I’m surprised that the judge didn’t tell the government that they had no standing. After all this case is related to voting.
🤣 & 😞
All at the same time. .
Mackey is from Florida. They tried the case in NYC on the absurd grounds that the internet cables go through there, and that therefore the “crime” took place there. Of course the internet extends to every part of the country.
…and the EDNY Prosecutors produced no witness from Brooklyn, Queens or LI that said their vote was stolen as a result of Markey’s prank!
“The government presented no evidence at trial that Mackey’s tweets tricked anyone into failing properly to vote,” an appeals judge wrote.”
Hard to believe that the New York Federal Judge allowed the case to proceed?
He is brilliant.
For more than one hundred years communists the world over have displayed no sense of humor and nothing but rancor and violence against anyone or anything that is not founded and steeped in Marxist-Leninist communism. Democrats in America are exactly like communists. So if the shoe fits…
what the FBI did to Douglas Mackey,
– arrested by the FBI on January 27, 2021 on American soil seven days after the overthrow of the U.S. government was inaugurated, for a meme he had reposted four years earlier making fun of Hillary Clinton—who orchestrated the greatest disinformation campaign in American election history, the Russian Collusion hoax, during the 2016 presidential election, an attempt to overthrow the United States government.
• The FBI refused to tell him why he was being arrested until he arrived at the courthouse.
NYC jury found Douglass Mackey GUILTY for his role in a conspiracy to interfere in U.S. elections and was sentenced 7 months in prison, in first-ever meme trial in U.S. history.
Within the last hour, the following has happened…
1. Biden’s White House doctor pleads the 5th and has refused to testify in a closed door hearing to Congress
2. Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, has announced she is resigning
3. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out the conviction of Douglas Mackey who was prosecuted and imprisoned for a meme mocking Democrats in 2016
4. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, is expected to resign
#4 is great to hear. I hope it’s true.
When the Feds are involved in the prosecution, the judges always defer to the Feds wishes. I have seen too much to not understand this reality with judges. They are afraid of going against the Feds of any of the alphabet agencies.
The only reason President Trump made it was he had the money to fight it. Most people don’t have the money and go bankrupt fighting them. It’s an unjust system we have unfortunately.
I imagine Mackey had to crowd fund thousands of dollars and he’s probably maxxed out financially. This happens too often.
If I had been sitting on that jury I’d STILL be sitting in jail for contempt!
i hope peace and driscoll have been fired.
The charged guys meme has a valid , working, PAID For, number to txt Hillary to . 4900 unique phone numbers used it to vote.
Someone paid for that number.
But case was dismissed for lack of DIRECT evidence of guilty actions.
The not charged meme has no working phone number. Big difference.
If stupidity was a crime, you could send those 4900 rocket scientists to prison.
No way this guy should have ever been charged. Biden DOJ tyranny.
So, you are saying that the conviction was valid? Because the meme included a campaign phone number?
Ridiculous!
He said the opposite that the MEME did not have a working phone number.
That isn’t what I read….
It was not a real campaign number. The number worked, it accepted the txt, and so successfully tricked people into thinking they had voted. In fact they had not. Successfully tricking , diverting voters is why the charge.
In my view , he should have got a warning, and a press conference to warn everyone else.
Actual prosecution seems like over the top , by the prosecutor to me
Test
Tt
Sorry phone playing up
These are the same people that persecuted Trump and his family – they would happily have sentenced he and them to life in prison plus a forfeiture of possessions.
Still, today – there have been no repercussions and none expected – ensuring this criminal behavior continues ad infinitum.
To see someone’s true character, give them power. The last four years have been a blinking neon sign in the sky, illuminating the character of Dem leaders and their apparatchiks. They’re consummate power freaks who have no brakes, and so must be defeated utterly, with no quarter given.
Garland prosecuted an innocent man for an obvious joke. In fact, the EDNY couldn’t even produce one witness that submitted a “ballot” voting according to the text instructions.
In other words, the DOJ and FBI had no evidence that anybody was dumb enough to fall for the joke and casted a vote yet a New York City FEDERAL JUDGE actually allowed this political persecution to proceed knowing that there was never a crime or even an attempt to commit a crime and was happy to send this young man to federal prison for a decade?
In NY they can convict any Trump supporters of anything.
Another example of Judge Ann Donnelly’s work…
“In June 2022, The United States Supreme Court unanimously vacated Judge Donnelly’s decision that a minor child be compelled to return to Italy despite the child “facing a grave risk of harm” if returned. The Supreme Court returned the matter to Judge Donnelly, who again ordered the child returned to Italy, in August 2022.[17] The child’s mother, Narkis Aliza Golan, who had settled at a New York domestic violence shelter after fleeing Italy to protect the child, was found dead weeks after Judge Donnelly’s August 2022 decision.[18] At the time of her death, Golan was preparing to appeal Donnelly’s August 2022 decision.”
They went after Mackey not because he committed a crime, but because his meme mocked, tried to fool & insulted the intelligence of the Democrat voting base . . . .
. . . . and only Democrats are allowed to do that.
First. I’m very happy for the great outcome.
Second. This makes my blood boil. I honestly dont know what I would do if these people Did this to me. I would have to be restrained.
Can you imagine a federal judge allowing Mackey to be convicted and…
“The government presented no evidence at trial that Mackey’s tweets tricked anyone into failing properly to vote,” an appeals judge wrote.”
Congratulations Douglas Mackey! This demonstrates that the news isn’t all bad, that justice is still possible.
J
Huh. They should’ve gotten a look at my memes of Hitlery…
I do not consider this a victory for free speech.
I consider the possibility of the lower court decision an indication of peril to free speech.
If posting political memes can get a standing conviction, the cast and producers of Saturday Night Live should be spending time behind bars as well.