Elon Musk sued Media Matters over a truthful report that ads had run against racist and far-right tweets. A Texas judge unexpectedly ruled in Musk's favor by refusing to dismiss the case earlier this year. It turns out that the judge has a stake in Tesla, according to paperwork seen by NPR.
A federal judge in Texas overseeing a high-profile lawsuit filed by billionaire Elon Musk against the watchdog group Media Matters was buying and selling stock in Musk's Tesla company in 2023, the year Musk filed the suit, according to financial disclosure reports recently made public.
In August, NPR reported that U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas had made an investment in Tesla of between $15,001 and $50,000. O'Connor has delivered a string of decisions in the Media Matters lawsuit in favor of Musk, who argues the advocacy group disparaged X, his social media site.
The judge has a personal financial stake in Musk's success, a specific conflict of interest reported out after servile court rulings that seemed crafted to run up Media Matters' legal bills in the face of settled law. $50k might not buy a Winnebago worth vacationing in but that's serious money to most people.O'Connor declares himself too pure to eat while insisting the trough not be emptied, and is opposed to curbs on "judge shopping" which threaten his place at it.
