Prof. Richard Painter Interviewed by NPR About Possible Conflict of Interest Involving Judge in Elon Musk Lawsuit

Professor Richard Painter, S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law, was interviewed by NPR about a federal judge in Texas overseeing a high-profile lawsuit filed by billionaire Elon Musk against the watchdog group Media Matters. The judge was accused of buying and selling stock in Musk’s Tesla company in 2023, the year Musk filed the suit. In August, NPR reported that U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas had made an investment in Tesla. O’Connor has delivered a string of decisions in the Media Matters lawsuit in favor of Musk, who argues the advocacy group disparaged X, his social media site. While Tesla is not directly part of Musk’s Media Matters suit, legal ethics experts called on the judge to recuse himself from the case, since the outcome of a lawsuit involving one of Musk’s companies could, in turn, have an effect on the stock value. Prof. Painter pointed to federal laws that require recusal when a judge or family member can financially benefit from the outcome of a case. “The relevant question is whether the Tesla stock price could be substantially affected by the outcome of this case,” said Painter, adding that while any such effect remains uncertain, “it possibly could if Musk’s reputation is both at issue in the case and important to Tesla’s stock price.”