Elon Musk Seeks Judge’s Recusal in Tesla Lawsuit

On Wednesday, Elon Musk requested that a Delaware judge withdraw from the ongoing Tesla lawsuit, arguing that the judge displayed bias by liking an anti-Musk post on LinkedIn. Musk’s legal team filed this motion with the Delaware Court of Chancery, providing a screenshot of Judge Kathleen McCormick favoring a post that celebrated Musk’s $2 billion loss in a different case. Musk’s attorneys emphasized that this event “did not occur in isolation.”

They pointed out that Judge McCormick had previously overseen a contentious lawsuit involving Musk, where he accused her of bias several years back. This tension seems to stem from the hostilities Musk has faced from left-leaning circles, particularly after he aligned with President Donald Trump early in 2024.

Musk’s lawyers expressed that McCormick appeared to endorse a lawyer who mocked Musk’s legal setbacks in a California fraud case. Currently, McCormick is also overseeing another lawsuit brought by Tesla shareholders, who allege that Musk’s actions led to the overcompensation of himself and fellow board members. Interestingly, one of McCormick’s staff had also liked additional posts criticizing Musk.

Musk’s legal team described the LinkedIn posts as more than just negative comments; they characterized them as “inflammatory.” They remarked that the underlying issues of the litigation referenced in the posts are directly connected to the current case.

Afterward, McCormick deactivated her LinkedIn account and denied any support of the negative posts in a letter to the case’s lawyers. She asserted that either she clicked the “Support” button by a mistake or she didn’t click it at all, stating, “I don’t think I did that by accident.”

In a related 2022 case, McCormick oversaw a significant lawsuit that Twitter (now called X) filed to compel Musk to follow through on a $44 billion acquisition attempt, after Musk retrospective claims of being misled about the platform’s bot activity. Ultimately, Musk proceeded with the acquisition but later testified that he felt he had no other option. He mentioned concerns about McCormick being prejudiced against him during that process.

“Winning felt unlikely. I initiated the Delaware lawsuit because the judgment seemed deeply biased against me,” Musk commented this month. He recalled that it was the same judge who invalidated his Tesla option grant, which was later reinstated by the Delaware Supreme Court.

Separately, McCormick had previously nullified multi-billion dollar pay packages for Musk and Tesla’s board in 2024, indicating potential breaches of fiduciary duty and asserting Musk’s effective control over the board. While the Delaware Supreme Court restored the compensation package, it still upheld McCormick’s original findings.

During that time, Musk responded to a conservative influencer’s claim that McCormick’s past connections to a Delaware law firm donating to President Biden indicated bias, deeming the judge “absolutely corrupt.”

This dissatisfaction from McCormick seems to coincide with the increasing public scrutiny on Musk, who has become intertwined with political dynamics — opposing Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterms and backing Trump in 2024. In 2025, Musk even took on a role in the Trump administration’s Office of Government Efficiency, focusing on tackling government waste, which made him a target for the left. Tesla locations faced criticisms and protests, further painting Musk as an unelected billionaire aligned with Trump’s administration.

Despite earlier tensions, Musk and Trump appeared to be reconciling somewhat after a public fallout last spring over Trump’s budget bill, “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The two have been seen engaging at various public functions since then.