U.S. Supreme Court rejects Elon Musk “Twitter Sitter” appeal

The Securities and Exchange Commission scored a win on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Tesla CEO Elon Musk to withdraw from a years-old settlement deal. The court did not explain the rejection, and no justices issued dissents.

What was Musk’s issue with the settlement? The dispute began in 2018 after the South African billionaire posted a tweet claiming he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share. The company ultimately decided not to go private, but not before wild swings in Tesla’s stock prices. The SEC charged Musk with civil securities fraud. The CEO settled the charges by personally paying over $20 million in penalties and agreeing to have a company lawyer—or “Twitter Sitter”—approve any social media posts about Tesla. Musk now wants to back out of the settlement, alleging it violates his constitutional right to free speech. A district and appeals court both sided with the SEC before the Supreme Court rejected Musk’s case.

Dig deeper: Read Rachel Lynn Aldrich’s report on the SEC’s push to remove Musk from Tesla leadership following the 2018 tweet.