--- title: "SpaceX Sues California for Violating Elon Musk’s Right to Free Speech" description: "Elon Musk is now accusing the California government of being biased against him when rejecting a SpaceX proposal." date: "2024-10-16" modified: "2024-10-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-sues-california-elon-musk-speech" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "free speech" - "SpaceX" - "the digest" --- # SpaceX Sues California for Violating Elon Musk’s Right to Free Speech ![Elon Musk is now accusing the California government of being biased against him when rejecting a SpaceX proposal.]() *\Image: Anna Moneymaker via Getty\* ## Free Speech Warrior SpaceX CEO and self-proclaimed "[free speech absolutist]()" Elon Musk is now accusing the California government of being biased against him when rejecting a SpaceX proposal. In a [new lawsuit](), Musk's space company has accused the California Coastal Commission (CCC), which regulates the development of the state's coast, of engaging in "naked political discrimination" against the billionaire after rejecting its requests to launch more rockets. The suit claims that the CCC was "egregiously and unlawfully overreaching its authority" when it determined last week that [SpaceX could not use the Vandenberg Space Force Base]() in Santa Barabara County to launch up to 50 more rockets annually. During those deliberations, which ultimately resulted in the proposal's rejection, some of the agency's members [expressed critical views about Musk](). "Elon Musk is hopping about the country, spewing and tweeting political falsehoods and attacking FEMA while claiming his desire to help the hurricane victims with free Starlink access to the internet," said commissioner Gretchen Newsom, [per *Politico*](). ## Majority Rules While Newsom's comments about misinformation are [based on]() [established fact](), their politicized nature nevertheless seems to have given SpaceX lawsuit fodder. The coastal regulator ultimately voted six to four against the proposal because Space Force, which is part of the Air Force, did not make a good enough case for SpaceX using military facilities — but that hasn't stopped the company from lashing out on behalf of Musk. "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 suit reads. Despite bearing no relation to governor Gavin Newsom, the commissioner of the same last name seems to share his [disdain for Musk]() — and those statements, along with others critical of the multi-hyphenate business owner, made their way into the lawsuit. "We’re dealing with a company," opined Commissioner Caryl Hart during the [CCC's meeting last week](), "the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the Presidential race and made it clear what his point of view is." Along with naming and shaming specific commissioners, the lawsuit filed in California's central district also claims that the regulatory body is "violating core Constitutional protections of free speech and due process" afforded to SpaceX — which, is a valid argument thanks to the [doctrine of corporate personhood](). Always with a flair for the dramatic, Musk's suit goes on to claim that the CCC is undermining national security and engaging in "blatantly illegal" punishment of SpaceX. SpaceX's lawyers will now, as [*Business Insider* reports](), have to prove that the CCC was biased in its decision-making — and given how much vitriol its commissioners have shown against Musk, that might not be a hard swing. **More on SpaceX:** [*Elon Musk Says Next-Gen Starlink Satellites Will Be So Huge They’ll Need to be Launched With Starship*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()