Protect Democracy and its partners filed suit against the makers and promoters of the election lie-hyping film 2000 Mules and its accompanying book on behalf of a private citizen in Georgia who was falsely accused of breaking the law in the movie, book, and related promotional efforts. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants engaged in both defamation and voter intimidation.

Without evidence, Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote’s Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips (along with D’Souza Media, True the Vote, Salem Media, Regnery Publishing, and others) manufactured a reputation-injuring lie about our client Mark Andrews, who legally placed his own ballot and those of his family into a ballot dropbox ahead of the 2020 election. Their lies portrayed Andrews, recorded on surveillance footage depositing the ballots, as a so-called “ballot mule” working to illegally cast votes in an effort to steal the election away from then-President Donald Trump.

In addition to the defendants featuring Mr. Andrews’ image and lies about Mr. Andrews in their so-called documentary and book that falsely claim fraud in the 2020 presidential election (and in advertisements), defendants repeated these lies many times over in media appearances and posts on social media. These lies are textbook defamation, false light, and appropriation of likeness. They also violate the Klan Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, passed by Congress in the wake of Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement to prohibit the kind of intimidation that Defendants are now engaged in. 

This suit seeks to impose consequences on those who profit from election lies that harm private individuals and our democracy writ large.

Law for Truth, a project of Protect Democracy, represents Mr. Andrews in partnership with the law firm DuBose Miller LLC and other pro bono counsel.

Case Documents