Trump-loving dirty tricksters have their day at Michigan Supreme Court

Two far-right operatives who made tens of thousands of calls spreading misinformation about voting across Midwestern states ahead of the 2020 presidential election, had oral arguments taken Thursday in their robocall voter intimidation criminal case in the Michigan Supreme Court. Investigators who have looked into calls made in Michigan, Ohio and New York estimate that Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, who both have a history of manufacturing conservative conspiracy theories, made about 85,000 robocalls with false information about voting in an attempt to keep people from participating in the 2020 election in which Republican former President Donald Trump lost to Democratic President Joe Biden. Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel filed multiple felony charges in 2020 against Burkman and Wohl involving voter intimidation and using computers to commit crimes against election laws. That summer, according to the opinion, Wohl emailed Burkman suggesting that the robocall attached in the message be sent “to black neighborhoods in Milwaukee, Detroit, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Richmond, Atlanta, and Cleveland.” The opinion adds that that summer Burkman messaged Wohl to discuss the success of the robocalls, saying, “I love these robocalls getting angry black call backs, win or lose, the black robocalls was a great idea.” Justices grilled attorneys on the defense and prosecutions side on what is actually considered free speech or political criticism, and what willfully keeps individuals from voting, crossing over into a violation of the law.