Conservative Robocallers Found Liable in 2020 Voter-Suppression Suit

Zoe Tillman
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Two conservative activists violated federal and state civil rights laws with a robocalling scheme designed to suppress Black voter turnout in 2020, a judge ruled Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of Black civic groups and the New York Attorney General’s office.

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Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, right-wing political operatives, engaged in a “calculated” effort to “deter Black voters by exploiting fears and stereotypes” with thousands of robocalls featuring false and misleading information about mail-in voting, US District Judge Victor Marrero wrote in a 111-page opinion.

The duo previously pleaded guilty to fraud in Ohio in connection with the robocalls. They were sentenced to probation and GPS monitoring, a $2,500 fine, and 500 hours of community service helping to register voters in the Washington, DC, area. They’re challenging charges in Michigan before the state’s highest court. The Federal Communications Commission has proposed a $5.13 million fine.

Marrero wrote that Burkman and Wohl’s activities violated a host of federal statutes — the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Ku Klux Klan Act — along with New York civil rights laws. In the next phase of the case, the plaintiffs, which include the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, will propose damages and other penalties.

“We are very happy for our clients and that justice was done on their behalf,” Franklin Monsour, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an email. “The court’s ruling establishes that voter intimidation schemes and attempts to disenfranchise minority voters will be rooted out and those who perpetrate them punished under prevailing voter protection law.”

A lawyer for Burkman and Wohl didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘Disgraceful Campaign’

In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James praised the ruling and blasted Wohl and Burkman for a “disgraceful campaign to intimidate Black voters, using threats and lies to keep them from making their voices heard in an attempt to secure the election for their preferred presidential candidate.”

According to Marrero’s ruling, Wohl had laid out in writing a plan to try to suppress Democratic turnout — including Black voters — by spreading false and confusing information. In one email to Burkman, Wohl wrote, “we must HIJACK this boring election.” After they’d arranged for the robocall message to be recorded, the pair discussed directing the calls to “black neighborhoods.” The messages, which claimed to come from a “civil rights organization,” went out in August 2020 to more than 85,000 phone numbers. Burkman at one point referred to it as the “black robo.”

Marrero wrote that the robocalls were “intimidating, threatening, or coercive towards voters, especially Black voters” and that Burkman and Wohl’s argument that they were merely expressing political opinion was “disingenuous.”

“There is little ambiguity that Defendants targeted the Black community for their voter suppression operation,” Marrero said. “Moreover, if their intention in the lead up to the Robocall launch was not clear, then it is made all-the-more apparent when seeing that upon disseminating the Robocall, Burkman emailed Wohl, expressing his satisfaction that he was receiving ‘angry black call backs.’”

The case is National Coalition on Black Civic Participation v. Jacob Wohl et al., 1:20-cv-08668, US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

(Updates with comment from New York attorney general.)

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