(Photo
by
Apu
Gomes/Getty
Images)
Elon
Musk
didn’t
get
where
he
is
without
taking
risks.
And
“where
he
is”
involves
having
epically
botched
a
merger
agreement
requiring
him
to
drop
roughly
$44B
of
his
own
(and
Diddy’s!)
money
into
a
company
while
driving
up
the
legal
expenses
he
would
eventually
own
and
then
proceeding
to
obliterate
almost
80
percent
of
the
company’s
value.
But
you
can’t
make
an
omelette
without
inviting
Nazis
to
help
you
break
some
eggs!
However,
one
risk
Musk
isn’t
taking
is
in
handling
the
legal
fallout
of
his
tenure
as
self-described
Chief
Twit.
For
those
playing
along
at
home,
due
to
the
Northern
District
of
Texas’s
one-stop-forum-shop
rules
—
which
they’ve
defended
even
as
the
rest
of
the
federal
judiciary
urged
them
not
to
drag
the
credibility
of
the
courts
into
the
mud
—
a
case
filed
in
the
Tarrant
courthouse
has
a
massively
good
chance
of
ending
up
in
front
of
O’Connor.
That
said,
the
language
did
NOT
choose
to
send
everything
to
Wichita
Falls,
the
courthouse
that
would
guarantee
O’Connor
heard
the
case.
I’m
assuming
X’s
lawyers
didn’t
want
to
have
to
drive
the
extra
hour
and
a
half
every
time.
In
Tarrant
County,
there’s
an
equal
chance
(45
percent)
that
the
matter
would
draw
Judge
Mark
Pittman
—
also
appointed
by
Trump
—
and
a
small
chance
of
getting
Senior
Judge
Terry
Means
—
a
George
H.W.
Bush
appointee.
Judge
Reed
O’Connor
owns
a
whole
lot
of
Tesla
stock,
a
functional
meme
stock
tied
to
Musk’s
persona.
Lest
there
be
any
doubt
that
Tesla
functions
as
an
empty
signifier
for
investors
betting
on
Musk
as
an
individual,
he’s
managed
to
convince
the
shareholders
to
award
him
a
compensation
package
so
divorced
from
Tesla’s
worth
as
a
company
that
it
amounts
to
roughly
half
the
company’s
total
assets.
Delaware
courts
aren’t
so
sure
about
that
one.
In
Musk’s
SLAPP
suit
against
Media
Matters,
the
advocacy
group
challenged
X’s
certification
of
financially
interested
parties
for
not
including
Tesla
—
the
public
company
whose
fortunes
rise
and
fall
with
Musk’s
private
travails.
An
agitated
O’Connor
dismissed
the
notion
out
of
hand
and
then
ordered
Media
Matters
to
cover
the
attorneys’
fees
involved
in
lieu
of
missing
an
opportunity
to
preside
over
a
case
between
Musk
and
progressive
fact
checkers.
To
be
clear,
O’Connor
has
recused
himself
from
another
X
case
after
the
public
learned
of
his
Tesla
investment…
he
just
doesn’t
seem
to
want
to
let
go
of
this
one.
O’Connor
has
had
a
busy
week
in
the
headlines,
because
he’s
also
held
up
the
DOJ’s
plea
agreement
with
Boeing
over
the
airline’s
deadly
accidents
because
—
despite
no
challenge
by
any
party
—
he
wants
to
confirm
that
the
independent
monitor
won’t
be
a
DEI
hire…
whatever
the
hell
that
means.
The
Media
Matters
case
is
one
that
only
a
hack
could
love.
After
promising
advertisers
that
the
service
could
prevent
their
brand
from
ever
appearing
next
to
white
supremacist
content,
Media
Matters
proved
that
it
was
entirely
possible
that
respectable
brands
could
appear
next
to
white
supremacist
content.
Musk’s
company
claims
that
Media
Matters
had
to
create
some
really
racist
profiles
to
get
those
results,
which
is
true
but
sort
of
misses
the
point
that
(a)
there
are
real
people
with
really
racist
profiles,
(b)
X
promised
that
mainstream
advertisers
wouldn’t
be
visible
in
those
feeds,
and
(c)
MAINSTREAM
ADVERTISERS
WERE
TOTALLY
VISIBLE
IN
THOSE
FEEDS.
One
of
the
big
requirements
of
all
the
causes
of
action
in
this
case
is
that
the
statement
be,
you
know,
false.
When
making
unequivocal
promises
that
the
platform
will
prevent
advertisers
from
being
featured
next
to
this
content,
it’s
not
really
sufficient
to
say
it
“probably
won’t”
happen.
That
would
be
like
unequivocally
promising
a
self-driving
car
that’s
only
probably
won’t
veer
into
a
wall
or
burst
into
flames.
But
putting
aside
the
merits
of
O’Connor’s
decision
at
the
time,
the
revelation
that
X
has
rearranged
its
terms
of
service
to
stack
the
deck
toward
getting
him
as
their
judge
should
be
worth…
something.
Even
if
a
judge
didn’t
think
his
growing
portfolio
of
Tesla
stock
equated
to
a
personal
financial
stake
in
Elon’s
X/Twitter
vanity
project,
learning
that
X
itself
appears
to
believe
the
judge
is
sufficiently
in
the
tank
to
rewrite
the
terms
of
service
to
place
most
of
their
chips
on
ending
up
in
his
courtroom
—
even
though
X
is
not
even
headquartered
in
that
district
—
should
give
pause
that,
at
the
very
least,
there’s
an
appearance
of
impropriety.
It
doesn’t
matter
if
the
appearance
of
impropriety
is
the
fault
of
a
party
and
not
the
judge.
The
fact
that
we’re
even
talking
about
this
crazy
change
to
the
terms
of
service
has
created
an
indelible
appearance
of
impropriety.
Let’s
not
hold
our
breath
though.
Earlier:
Media
Matters
Isn’t
Saying
Judge
Reed
O’Connor
Is
Conflicted.
They’re
Just
Saying
That
He
Stands
To
Financially
Benefit
From
Twitter
SLAPP
Suit.
Judge
Reed
O’Connor
Seems
To
Own
Too
Much
Tesla
To
Rule
Against
CVS,
Just
Enough
To
Rule
Against
Liberal
Fact-Checkers
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
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healthy
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sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
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Managing
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Executive
Search.