SpaceX CEO Elon Musk during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026.
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Elon Musk’s legal team is demanding that a judge in the Delaware Court of Chancery, Kathaleen McCormick, recuse herself from two Tesla lawsuits, alleging she showed bias in supporting a LinkedIn post that was critical of Musk.
“In light of the Court’s recent public support of LinkedIn posts that create a perception of bias against Mr. Musk in these cases, recusal is necessary and warranted,” Musk’s attorney’s wrote in their motion for recusal on Wednesday. “These cases should be re-assigned to another random-drawn judicial officer of this Court.”
The post that McCormick allegedly responded to with an emoji had touted a verdict from a San Francisco federal court that could cost Musk upwards of $2 billion. In that case, a jury found Musk had defrauded Twitter investors in the lead up to his buyout of the social network.
McCormick sent a letter to Musk’s attorneys saying she did not read the full text of the LinkedIn post referenced, did not support it, or intend to click any emoji expressing support of the post, and would have only accidentally clicked that indicator. She also said in the letter that she had reported “suspicious activity” on her account to LinkedIn.
Quinn Emanuel partner Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk, told CNBC in an email that he’s inquired with LinkedIn on the matter, and said “I don’t believe there’s any basis for the claim it was a ‘glitch.'”
LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McCormick became the target of Musk’s ire after she ordered Tesla to rescind his 2018 CEO pay package, worth about $56 billion in options, when she presided over the shareholder suit Tornetta v. Musk.
Musk moved his businesses, including Tesla, out of Delaware, incorporating them in Texas and Nevada and encouraging others to do the same.
In 2025, Delaware’s Supreme Court said Musk’s 2018 pay package must be restored, deciding that the lower court’s decision by McCormick was too extreme a remedy and did not give Tesla a chance to say what a fair compensation for Musk ought to be.
Tesla and Musk still have two cases proceeding through Delaware courts before McCormick. One concerns Tesla directors’ compensation, and the other is a consolidated shareholder suit filed by investors alleging that Musk breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla when he started a potential competitor in artificial intelligence, xAI,
Earlier this year, Tesla invested $2 billion into xAI. Musk’s aerospace and defense company, SpaceX, then acquired xAI, converting Tesla’s stock into SpaceX holdings.
