Want Some Cheese with That Whine?

This image definitely is a keeper

As you may be aware, Elon Musk is under a consent decree with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

He has to clear any Tweets (Ecch's?) about Tesla's business with Tesla's corporate counsel.

So, Elon went to court to end the agreement, and was turned down, and the court of appeals refused his request as well, and then refused to hear the appeal en banc.

So now, the Apaarheid Era Emerald Mine Heir Pedo Guy™ plans to appeal to the Supreme Court, because he feels that he has the right to defraud Tesla's stock holders:

Elon Musk plans an appeal to the US Supreme Court after losing an attempt to terminate a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Musk claims violates his First Amendment rights. The 2018 settlement over Musk's false "funding secured" tweets required Tesla to impose controls on his social media posts.

"Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, confirmed on Tuesday that Musk plans an appeal to the Supreme Court," according to Reuters.

In April 2022, Musk's attempt to get out of the settlement was rejected by a judge in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Musk appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, but the ruling against Musk was affirmed unanimously by a three-judge panel.

Musk then petitioned for an en banc rehearing in front of all the 2nd Circuit Court's judges, but his appeal was denied in a short order issued by the court yesterday. The "active members of the Court have considered the request for rehearing en banc. It is hereby ordered that the petition is denied," the ruling said. The 2nd Circuit appeals court has 13 active members.………

The SEC case began after Musk's August 2018 tweets stating, "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured," and, "Investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is that it's contingent on a shareholder vote."

The SEC sued Musk and Tesla, saying the tweets were false and "led to significant market disruption." The settlement required Musk and Tesla to each pay $20 million in penalties and forced Musk to step down from his board chairman post. That money is to be distributed to harmed investors under a plan approved by the court last year.

Musk was also required to get Tesla's pre-approval for tweets or other social media posts "that contain, or reasonably could contain, information material to the Company or its shareholders."

………

The 2nd Circuit panel ruling that affirmed Liman's decision said, "We see no evidence to support Musk's contention that the SEC has used the consent decree to conduct bad-faith, harassing investigations of his protected speech. To the contrary, the record indicates that the SEC has opened just three inquiries into Musk's tweets since 2018."

The first of those three led to the 2018 settlement. The second and third investigations sought information regarding tweets in 2019 and 2021 that "plausibly violated the terms of the consent decree," the panel found.

"Nor does the public interest require modification of the consent decree," the appeals court panel wrote. "If anything, it cuts in the other direction, given the importance of the public's interest in the enforcement of federal securities laws" and because "[o]ur Court recognizes a 'strong federal policy favoring the approval and enforcement of consent decrees.'"

Addressing Musk's argument that the settlement is a "prior restraint" on his speech, the court noted that "Parties entering into consent decrees may voluntarily waive their First Amendment and other rights."

So, Musk's argument is that he's too much of an idiot to be held to his agreement?

OK then.  He might have a case.