The Supreme Court rejects Elon Musk’s X appeal in criminal investigations against Trump

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by X, Elon Musk’s social media company, and declined to rule on whether prosecutors would have been able to obtain data from former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account Trump without notifying him.

The case arose as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump for alleged election interference in 2020, which the Supreme Court thwarted earlier this year by ruling that presidents enjoy broad immunity from prosecution for official acts. The court ruled in favor of the prosecutors.

Smith has already received the data at issue in the appeal from X, as Twitter is now called following Musk’s takeover of the social media company.

Trump’s lawyers themselves are not involved in the case.

Among other things, Trump was unable to make arguments about how the material in question could be protected because of his role as president, lawyers said in court filings. They say that the secrecy order violated X’s right to freedom of expression.

The case dates back to January last year, when the government sought a warrant under a law called the Stored Communications Act as part of Smith’s investigation. A federal judge approved the arrest warrant as well as a secrecy order preventing X from telling Trump or anyone else. Smith’s team had argued that there was a risk that evidence would be destroyed or tampered with if the warrant was made public.

X initially resisted and was subsequently hit with a $350,000 civil penalty before agreeing to comply. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed the district court’s decision. During the legal argument, Smith agreed that Trump could be informed of the warrant.