Supreme Court Rejects Elon Musk’s Lawsuit Against Jack Smith Over Trump Investigation
ForbesOCT 20 2024
Smith obtained a court-authorized warrant in January 2023 for information associated with Trump's @realDonaldTrump account as part of the election interference probe.The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from X Corp. regarding special counsel Jack Smith's acquisition of former President Donald Trump's Twitter records.
X (formerly Twitter) was initially prohibited from disclosing the warrant to Trump for 180 days and was fined $350,000 for failing to hand over the records on time.Smith obtained a court-authorized warrant in January 2023 for information associated with Trump's @realDonaldTrump account as part of the election interference probe.
The company eventually turned over 32 direct messages tied to Trump's account, along with other data sets, to the special counsel.X (formerly Twitter) was initially prohibited from disclosing the warrant to Trump for 180 days and was fined $350,000 for failing to hand over the records on time.
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This ruling sets a dangerous precedent for privacy and privilege. The government can now potentially invade attorney-client, journalist-source, and doctor-patient privileges without notice. It's an unprecedented end-run around executive privilege that could have far-reaching consequences for all users of social media platforms.