Supreme Court turns away Musk's X appeal over Trump criminal investigation
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Elon Musk's social media company X, declining to decide whether prosecutors should have obtained data from Trump's Twitter account without him being notified.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal brought by X, Elon Musk's social media company, declining to decide whether prosecutors should have been able to obtain data from former President Donald Trump's Twitter account without him being notified.
The case arose as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump over alleged election interference in 2020, which the Supreme Court stymied earlier this year by ruling that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for official acts taken in office. The court left in place a ruling in favor of prosecutors.
Smith has already obtained the data at issue in the appeal brought by X, as Twitter is now known following Musk’s takeover of the social media company.
But X’s lawyers said the Supreme Court should intervene so that prosecutors cannot take similar actions in the future without the person involved being made aware that their data is being handed over to the government. Trump himself is not involved in the case.
Among other things, Trump was not able to make any arguments about how the material in question might be protected because of his role as president, the lawyers said in court papers. They say that the nondisclosure order violated X’s free speech rights.
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