April 29 (UPI) — The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a bid by billionaire tech investor and Tesla CEO Elon Musk seeking a review of an agreement he signed with US regulators concerning his social media posts.
The high court denied certiorari for his case, Musk vs. SECin an order list released Monday.
In doing so, the nation’s highest court let stand a ruling issued last year by the New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals finding in favor of the Securities Exchange Commission.
In his suit, Musk argued he should be released from a 2018 consent decree struck with regulators calling for his posts on Twitter — now rebranded as “X” after his purchase of the platform — to be monitored by an attorney.
The agreement was put in place after a verdict by a San Francisco jury found that his 2018 tweet about Tesla contained inaccurate information. In the tweet, Musk declared that he had “funding secured” to take the electric vehicle company private — an inaccurate description that led to a frenzied surge in the company’s share price.
Musk argued the tweet was a “non sequitur” and that it did not violate securities laws.
Late in 2022, Musk and Tesla challenged the agreement in a federal appeals court, saying it violates the billionaire’s free speech and arguing the SEC did not have the authority to carry out such enforcements.
He also argued regulators have since used the agreement to harass him and limit his free speech rights.
The agency responded by arguing the agreement does not preclude Musk from tweeting accurately about any topic — including Tesla — but rather only requires the automaker to review Musk’s Tesla-related posts before publication.
Musk, they said, forfeited his chance to test the free speech constitutionality of agreement when he “voluntarily agreed (twice)” to the consent judgment.
The appellate court agreed in its May 2023 ruling, stating in its decision, “We see no evidence to support Musk’s contention that the SEC has used the consent decree to conduct bad-faith, harassing investigations of his protected speech. To the contrary, the record indicates that the SEC has opened just three inquiries into Musk’s tweets since 2018.”
