Space X sues California regulators, claiming bias against Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s SpaceX sued California regulators Tuesday for alleged politician bias.

SpaceX claimed, in a lawsuit filed in California’s Central District, that regulators denied the company permission to conduct more rocket launches because of Musk’s many controversial and hard-line conservative stances. The decision, the company claims, violates its CEO’s right to free speech.

The space exploration company wanted to launch dozens of rockets each year from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara, California, according to the Wall Street Journal (NWSA), but the California Coastal Commission denied the request.

Commissioner Gretchen Newsom, who is not related to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, criticized Musk before the vote on the decision, saying he had “bigoted beliefs against California’s safeguards and protections over our transgender community.”

She also lambasted him for “hopping about the country, spewing and tweeting political falsehoods and attacking FEMA while claiming his desire to help the hurricane victims with free Starlink access to the internet,” the Journal reported.

Newsom also questioned SpaceX’s safety record and labor conditions.

The company said in court documents that “rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO.”

Musk criticized the Commission, writing on X: “The Coastal Commission has one job — take care of the California coast,” he said. “It is illegal for them to make decisions based on what they (mostly wrongly) think are my politics.”

Musk claimed to have “done more to advance sustainable energy & help the environment than maybe anyone ever, which is not exactly a ‘far-right’ position.” He called on the commission to resign.

Because SpaceX is a major federal contractor, there is still a chance it could launch more rockets from California.

Col. Mark Shoemaker, a commander at the Space Force who oversees Vandenberg, told the Wall Street Journal, “We are assessing the outcome from Thursday, and it is too soon to comment on launch cadence beyond the current capacity constraint.”