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If you were suing a company, how much stock would the judge have to have in it before you became concerned about their impartiality? I’d put the limit at whatever the going rate of a nice steak dinner at Ruth’s Chris is, but even more conservative estimates should draw the line somewhere before tens of thousands of dollars. Reed O’Connor is a judge in Texas who has handed down some very pro-Elon decisions. He’s also thought to have somewhere between $15k-$50k in Tesla stock. And while some of the damage has already been done, it looks like O’Connor won’t be acting as Elon’s easy forum shopping go-to for much longer. Reuters has coverage:
A federal judge in Texas assigned to hear a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s social media platform X against a group of advertisers has removed himself from the case following reports that he owned shares of another Musk company, Tesla.
…
NPR reported on Friday that [Reed] O’Connor owned Tesla shares, raising questions about whether he should oversee litigation involving Musk’s companies.
Would you look at that! Say it with me now: Bullying works!
The elephant worth addressing is despite the fact that Tesla and X are ultimately two separate companies, Elon Musk’s actions and cult of personality do a great job of piercing the veil. We’ve seen the overlap before — like the time Tesla stock dropped when Elon mocked the SEC on Twitter or when he smoked weed on Joe Rogan’s podcast. It would be just as much reason for concern if the judge were overseeing a Space X case rather than X: it’s Elon all the way down.
This should be read as a success story for judicial transparency. Is getting a judge who has $15-$50k invested in the game the same as getting Supreme Court justices to curtsy out of cases that involve candidates their wives are zealous advocates of? No, but you have to start somewhere.
In an ideal world, justices would take the notion that they should avoid even the appearance of impropriety seriously and automatically recuse themselves from cases that they have a financial stake in. O’Connor isn’t off the bias hook yet — there’s still a Tesla case he’s presiding over that he should probably recuse himself from. In the meantime, news coverage from NPR, ProPublica, and yours truly will keep judges’ feet to the fire.
Texas Judge In Lawsuit By Musk’s X Against Advertisers Exits Case [Reuters]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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