Elon Musk calls for Delaware judge to recuse herself in lawsuits alleging bias

Elon Musk's legal representatives are urging a Delaware Court of Chancery judge, Kathaleen McCormick, to withdraw from two ongoing lawsuits involving Tesla, citing concerns over perceived bias. They argue that McCormick's interaction with a critical LinkedIn post about Musk compromises her impartiality. In their recusal motion, filed on Wednesday, Musk's attorneys stated, "Given the Court's recent public endorsement of LinkedIn posts that contribute to a perception of bias against Mr. Musk in these matters, recusal is both necessary and justified. These cases should be reassigned to another randomly selected judicial officer within this Court." The LinkedIn post in question celebrated a San Francisco federal court verdict that could cost Musk around $2 billion. A jury determined that Musk had misled Twitter investors prior to his acquisition of the social media platform. In response to the allegations, Judge McCormick communicated to Musk's legal team that she had not fully read the post and did not intend to express support for it by clicking an emoji, which she claimed was an accidental action. Additionally, she mentioned reporting "suspicious activity" related to her account to LinkedIn. Musk's attorney, Alex Spiro, has reached out to LinkedIn for clarification on the matter, expressing skepticism about the assertion that the emoji click was a mere "glitch." Meanwhile, LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, has yet to provide a public comment on the situation. McCormick has come under scrutiny from Musk, particularly after she mandated the cancellation of his 2018 CEO pay package, valued at approximately $56 billion in options, during the shareholder suit Tornetta v. Musk. Following this ruling, Musk relocated several of his business operations, including Tesla, to Texas and Nevada, encouraging others to follow suit. In a 2025 ruling, Delaware's Supreme Court reinstated Musk's 2018 pay package, stating that McCormick's prior decision was excessively harsh and did not allow Tesla to assert what would be considered fair compensation for him. Currently, two cases involving Tesla and Musk are still active in Delaware courts before McCormick. One of these cases relates to the compensation of Tesla directors, while the other is a consolidated shareholder lawsuit claiming that Musk breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla when he initiated a competing venture in artificial intelligence, xAI. Earlier this year, Tesla invested $2 billion in xAI, which was subsequently acquired by Musk's aerospace company, SpaceX, effectively converting Tesla's stock into holdings within SpaceX.