Douglass Mackey is likely breathing a massive sigh of relief right about now, as the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals threw out his conviction on Wednesday for sharing online memes of former Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) during the 2016 presidential election against President Donald Trump.
He celebrated the decision on X in the morning:
BREAKING: THE SECOND CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS HAS THROWN OUT MY CONVICTION FOR LACK OF EVIDENCE
— Douglass Mackey (@DougMackeyCase) July 9, 2025
THE CASE HAS BEEN REMANDED TO THE DISTRICT COURT WITH ORDERS TO IMMEDIATELY DISMISS
HALLELUJAH!
Mackey was charged with conspiracy against rights for allegedly spreading "deceptive memes" against the Democrat nominee, and was handed a prison sentence:
Douglass Mackey was sentenced to seven months in prison in 2023 for the crime of sharing what Biden prosecutors called "deceptive memes" in the 2016 election.
Mackey's prison sentence was stayed by an appellate court several weeks after his conviction.
That sentence has now been fully overturned.
He could have faced a prison sentence of up to 10 years. RedState wrote extensively on the free speech case and its aftermath.
The report continued:
Douglass Mackey tweeted some fake Hillary campaign graphics that told people to text in their votes, virtually no one even saw the memes, and he was sentenced to jail 7 years later, even though Hillary supporters made the same kind of memes and never got punished.
Mackey was then tried in deep-blue NYC because that's where Twitter's servers were.
...
The court ruled that the Biden admin's argument of conspiracy was nonsense, since it couldn't prove Mackay had done anything other than share memes he found funny.
It failed to establish, in accordance with its theory of the case, that Mackey became aware of the text-to-vote memes in the War Room and tweeted them pursuant to a conspiracy launched there. That theory was possible, but so was an alternative one: that Mackey became aware of the memes independently and decided on his own to post them.
...
A Section 241 conviction requires proof that the defendant knowingly entered into an unlawful agreement. Here, no 'rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.' ... For these reasons, we REVERSE Mackey's conviction and REMAND the case to the district court with instructions to enter a judgment of acquittal.
Today's overturning of his conviction by the court leads to Mackey's case returning to the district court, where it will be dismissed:
🚨 BREAKING: 2nd Circuit THROWS OUT the conviction of Douglass Mackey for circulating memes during the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton.@DougMackeyCase says "the case has been remanded to the District Court with orders to immediately DISMISS."
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 9, 2025
"Praise God."
Mackey was… pic.twitter.com/cBO3vY090P
Mackey was sentenced in 2023 to federal prison for "conspiracy to interfere with potential voters’ right to vote in the 2016 election for the Office of the President of the United States."
FREE SPEECH WINS.
Attorney Eric Matheny reacted to the decision on his X account, speaking for many when he called out the conviction as "one of the greatest injustices of the last 10 years":
Douglass Mackey went to prison for posting (not even creating) a Hillary meme in 2016.
It was one of the greatest injustices of the last 10 years.
This is a victory, but it can never give him back the time and quality of life the US government stole from him.
This is a developing story. RedState will provide updates as more information becomes available.
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