Overview
- Elon Musk’s lawyers filed a recusal motion in Delaware’s Court of Chancery seeking to remove Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick from consolidated Tesla shareholder cases after her LinkedIn account showed a “Support” reaction on a post celebrating a roughly $2 billion jury verdict against him in California.
- McCormick said she did not intend to endorse the post, said she had not read it beyond a screenshot, and reported “suspicious activity” to LinkedIn, after which she was locked out of or deactivated from her account.
- Musk’s filing stresses that LinkedIn’s heart‑in‑hand “Support” icon requires a deliberate choice beyond a default “Like,” and it also cites a separate “like” from an account tied to the judge’s chambers on a post critical of Musk.
- The motion argues the online reactions create an appearance of bias because plaintiffs in the Delaware suits are pointing to the San Francisco verdict, and it asks that the cases be reassigned to another randomly drawn judge while the court’s decision on recusal remains pending.
- The clash follows McCormick’s high‑profile rulings involving Musk, including pressuring completion of the 2022 Twitter deal and initially voiding his 2018 Tesla pay package before a later reversal, and it has prompted debate over judicial ethics on social media and Delaware’s standing as the premier corporate court.