The gloves are coming off.
Free Speech Warrior
SpaceX CEO and self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk is now accusing the California government of being biased against him when rejecting a SpaceX proposal.
In a new lawsuit, Musk’s space company has accused the California Coastal Commission (CCC), which regulates the development of the state’s coast, of engaging in “naked political discrimination” against the billionaire after rejecting its requests to launch more rockets.
The suit claims that the CCC was “egregiously and unlawfully overreaching its authority” when it determined last week that SpaceX could not use the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barabara County to launch up to 50 more rockets annually.
During those deliberations, which ultimately resulted in the proposal’s rejection, some of the agency’s members expressed critical views about Musk.
“Elon Musk is hopping about the country, spewing and tweeting political falsehoods and attacking FEMA while claiming his desire to help the hurricane victims with free Starlink access to the internet,” said commissioner Gretchen Newsom, per Politico.
Majority Rules
While Newsom’s comments about misinformation are based on established fact, their politicized nature nevertheless seems to have given SpaceX lawsuit fodder.
The coastal regulator ultimately voted six to four against the proposal because Space Force, which is part of the Air Force, did not make a good enough case for SpaceX using military facilities — but that hasn’t stopped the company from lashing out on behalf of Musk.
“Rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO,” the suit reads.
Despite bearing no relation to governor Gavin Newsom, the commissioner of the same last name seems to share his disdain for Musk — and those statements, along with others critical of the multi-hyphenate business owner, made their way into the lawsuit.
“We’re dealing with a company,” opined Commissioner Caryl Hart during the CCC’s meeting last week, “the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the Presidential race and made it clear what his point of view is.”
Along with naming and shaming specific commissioners, the lawsuit filed in California’s central district also claims that the regulatory body is “violating core Constitutional protections of free speech and due process” afforded to SpaceX — which, is a valid argument thanks to the doctrine of corporate personhood.
Always with a flair for the dramatic, Musk’s suit goes on to claim that the CCC is undermining national security and engaging in “blatantly illegal” punishment of SpaceX.
SpaceX’s lawyers will now, as Business Insider reports, have to prove that the CCC was biased in its decision-making — and given how much vitriol its commissioners have shown against Musk, that might not be a hard swing.
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