Trump Appointed Judges Recuses Himself from Elon Musk Case

There has been a development in the lawsuit brought by Elon Musk against Media Matters for America.

On Tuesday, Judge Mark Pittman, who was appointed by Donald Trump, recused himself from the case.

He has filed the paperwork with the clerk and requested a new judge be assigned to the case.

Replacement

Judge Mark Pittman of the U.S. District Court in Northern Texas did not cite a reason for the recusal request, nor was it made apparent why the request had been filed.

Judges are required to recuse themselves from cases when “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” This would include personal bias or a financial interest in the case.

So, for instance, if Pittman has money invested in Twitter or Tesla, he would be required to recuse himself from the case.

Musk has sued the liberal watchdog for what he says is a misrepresentation of how content appears on X, stating that Media Matters is making a big assumption that “they were what typical X users experience on the platform.”

Prior to Musk filing the lawsuit, Media Matters announced that it was placing ads next to hateful content it had spotted on X. After Media Matters published its report, advertisers started to bail on Musk and X.

Media Matters President Angelo Carusone responded, “This is a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X’s critics into silence.

“Media Matters stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court.”

When Musk took over what was then called Twitter, there was a collective meltdown on the left, as Twitter was clearly censoring conservatives and helping to push Democrat talking points, not to mention the blocking of stories such as the Hunter Biden laptop that could hurt Democrats.

Musk initially struggled with advertising after taking over Twitter, then rebranding it as “X.”

If Musk loses this suit, it would have to be considered a crushing blow to his efforts to dispel reports that X has become filled with hateful posts since he took it over.