Overview

• The court ordered the Eastern District of New York to enter a judgment of acquittal and vacate Mackey’s seven-month sentence.
• Judges emphasized that Section 241 requires evidence of a coordinated agreement, not merely isolated acts of misinformation.
• Although about 5,000 people texted the meme code, automated warnings prevented any actual voting errors and no one was shown to have been misled.
• The panel found no proof that Mackey participated in private Twitter “War Room” chats cited by prosecutors as the basis for a conspiracy.
• Mackey immediately announced plans to sue the Justice Department, arguing that his prosecution misapplied a Reconstruction-era statute to protected political speech.