Doug Mackey Wins Appeal in Hillary Meme Case

The man behind a popular pro-Trump X account effectively had his conviction tossed on Wednesday, after the Biden-era Department of Justice was ready to imprison him for memes that mocked Hillary Clinton voters during the 2016 presidential election.

Douglass Mackey, who was charged by the Biden DOJ some four years after posting the memes in question, was facing a stunning 10 years behind bars. After the DOJ secured a conviction, Mackey was sentenced to seven months behind bars in 2023, but the sentence was delayed by an appeals court.

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit reversed Mackey’s conviction and directed a lower court to enter a judgment of acquittal.

“The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out my conviction for lack of evidence the case has been remanded to the district court with orders to immediately dismiss,” Mackey posted to X. “Hallelujah!”

Mackey, who went by the Twitter (now X) alias Ricky Vaughn, was charged about a week after President Joe Biden took office — some four years after the memes were posted. While the DOJ claimed Mackey conspired to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate” people from exercising their constitutional right to vote, his legal team, other legal minds, and many politicos said the memes were obviously protected free speech.

The meme the prosecution zeroed in on was published on November 1, 2016. It shows a woman holding an “African Americans for President Hillary” sign with overlaid text reading, “Avoid the line. Vote from home. Text ‘Hillary’ to 55925.”

Mackey has the support of President Donald Trump, and others in his orbit, including Donald Trump Jr., but said after Trump won the 2024 election that he would not ask Trump for a pardon, since he was anticipating a good result on appeal.

“Since so many are asking, my team and I have not asked President Trump for a pardon at this time as we are hoping for a favorable, precedent-setting ruling in the 2nd Circuit that would prevent the DOJ from politically weaponizing the law,” he said at the time.

Mackey also posted on X, “Now we sue,” suggesting a coming suit against the federal government.