Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX has sued a California commission in federal court, accusing its members of political bias against the world’s richest man for his support of Donald Trump.
The California Coastal Commission’s bias, according to SpaceX’s lawsuit filed on Tuesday, has supposedly blocked SpaceX from launching more rockets and violated Musk’s First Amendment right to free speech.
SpaceX’s lawsuit claimed the commission “engaged in naked political discrimination” during a recent debate on whether to allow SpaceX to increase rocket launches from 36 to 50 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, located in Santa Barbara County. The lawsuit, which was obtained by TheWrap, said commissioners overstepped their limits by considering Musk’s political leanings.
“The concern is with SpaceX increasing its launches, not with the other companies increasing their launches,” commissioner Caryl Hart said, according to the lawsuit. “We’re dealing with a company … the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the president race and made it clear what his point of view is.”
Others on the committee agreed with Hart’s sentiment, SpaceX’s lawsuit noted. The lawsuit quoted commissioner Gretchen Newsom, saying Musk hops around the U.S. “spewing and tweeting political falsehoods.”
Musk has been perhaps Trump’s most vocal supporter over the past few months. He publicly endorsed the former president after his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. Since then, he’s posted on X — the app he owns — in favor of Trump, hosted a live conversation with him on X Spaces in August and joined the candidate on stage when he returned to Butler earlier this month.
Beyond that, Musk has also put a lot of money into helping Trump get back into the White House. On Tuesday, Musk reported $75 million in contributions to America PAC, his pro-Trump political action committee. America PAC’s website, which includes a picture of Musk in his “dark MAGA” hat, lists a handful of top priorities, including free speech, safe cities and secure borders.
SpaceX’s lawsuit, on top of saying the commission has violated Musk’s free speech rights, said the commission had interefered with national security operations.
“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 lawsuit said.
Earlier this year, Musk said he was moving X and SpaceX’s headquarters from California to Texas. Musk said the “final straw” was when California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill barring teachers from notifying parents that their kids identified as transgender.
