Musk’s X Rejected by Supreme Court Over Secret DOJ Trump Warrant

The US Supreme Court turned away an appeal by Elon Musk’s X Corp., steering clear of a clash over a secret Justice Department search warrant for records related to Donald Trump’s social media account.

X argued unsuccessfully that the company, then known as Twitter, shouldn’t have been required to turn over the information to Special Counsel Jack Smith before having a chance to challenge the government’s nondisclosure order.

The company said the order violated its free speech rights and deprived Trump of a chance to claim executive privilege. Trump wasn’t directly involved in the case and never asserted any privilege.

Smith got the warrant as part of his investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The special counsel argued that secrecy was needed to avoid jeopardizing the investigation.

A federal appeals court rejected X’s objections to the nondisclosure order. The panel also upheld a $350,000 penalty against X for missing a judge’s deadline to comply with the search warrant. X has paid the fine and didn’t challenge it as part of the Supreme Court appeal.

The case is X Corp. v. United States, 23-1264.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net

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