A year following the federal courts’ mandate that compelled the company formerly known as Twitter to provide data to special counsel Jack Smith regarding former President Donald Trump’s account, the company is appealing to the Supreme Court to prevent similar future requirements.
X Corp. seeks a ruling from the Supreme Court on whether social media platforms can be compelled to share user data with the government without notifying those users about the requests.
The company provided the requested information when Smith sought Trump’s social media account data without informing him. X Corp., owned by Elon Musk, initially attempted to delay the data transfer but was unsuccessful.
The federal judge overseeing the case questioned if the company was attempting to “cozy up” to the former president, a claim Musk has faced previously. Musk recently echoed Trump-supporting rhetoric similar to many Republicans, suggesting Trump’s felony conviction in his New York trial was “motivated by politics.”
Trump was reportedly considering an advisory role for Musk if he regained the presidency, but Musk dismissed these rumors, stating, “There have not been any discussions of a role for me in a potential Trump Presidency.”
X Corp.’s contention revolves not around the government’s authority to access Trump’s records, as these could have been acquired from the National Archives and Records Administration, but around the fact that this action would have alerted Trump and potentially jeopardized the investigation.
Musk’s company opposed the “nondisclosure” order that prohibited them from notifying Trump that the government sought his social media data, arguing that the data were protected by executive privilege or presidential confidentiality. Some of the data would have included drafted tweets, location information, and searches.
The judge and prosecutors found this unlikely, doubting that Trump would conduct official business via Twitter direct messages. The court eventually held the company in contempt for failing to provide the documents.
Smith is prosecuting Trump in two criminal cases related to the former president: the federal election interference case and the classified documents case.
Trump is unlikely to receive verdicts in either case before the November general election.
