WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X over a search warrant prosecutors obtained in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump.
The company, known as Twitter before it was bought by billionaire Elon Musk, says a nondisclosure order that prevented it from telling Trump about the order obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights rights.
The company also argues that Trump should have been given the opportunity to exercise his privileges. If left unchecked, the government could use similar tactics to invade other privileged communications, their lawyers argued.
Two nonpartisan electronic privacy groups also weighed in, encouraging the Supreme Court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.
However, prosecutors say the company never showed that Trump used the account for official purposes, so there would be no executive privilege issue. A lower court also ruled that telling Trump could have compromised the ongoing investigation.
Trump used his Twitter account in the weeks leading up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false statements about the election that prosecutors say were intended to sow distrust in the democratic process.
The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to come to Washington on January 6, pressured his Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification and falsely suggested that the mob at the Capitol – which beat up police officers and smashed windows – was peaceful.
That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s ruling in July, which gave Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.
The order came to Twitter amid rapid changes instituted by Musk, who bought the platform in 2022 and has since laid off much of its staff, including employees dedicated to tracking misinformation and hate speech.
He also welcomed a long list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him in the 2024 presidential race.
