Elon Musk smeared Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick, who struck down his record-breaking $56 billion pay package, as a danger to America’s free market capitalism.
Delaware, a corporate haven, is the go-to spot for U.S. companies incorporating themselves. The Chancery Court, presided over by McCormick, prides itself as a legal guardian safeguarding the state’s pro-business image.
But after McCormick refused to let Tesla pay Musk $56 billion in agreed compensation, the tech mogul has taken aim against her on his social network platform, X.
“She has done more to damage Delaware than any judge in modern history,” he wrote without any apparent trace of hyperbole, branding her an “activist and politician, first and foremost.”
It’s not Musk’s first run-in with McCormick, who prevented him in October 2022 from walking out on his contractually agreed offer with Twitter to buy the company for $44 billion.
Musk now plans to seek shareholder support to move Tesla’s incorporation to Texas, where it is headquartered.
She has done more to damage Delaware than any judge in modern history
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2024
Musk has long flaunted his open disdain for any institutions that have dared erect boundaries to his ambitions.
His hostility toward the Securities and Exchange Commission is well documented, calling them “shameless puppets of Wall Street short-seller sharks.”
Last month his lawyers sued the National Labor Relations Board, contesting its very legitimacy.
And it’s not just federal agencies Musk holds in contempt.
Last month he joked on the fourth-quarter investor call that he gave Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)—which recommended Tesla investors vote against his “staggering” $56 billion compensation package—the flattering nickname “ISIS.”
Musk portrays ruling as politically motivated
His attitude toward McCormick is not all that surprising given the way he is allowed to operate within his companies.
In his court testimony, Musk admitted his pay deal at Tesla involved “me negotiating against myself.”
But now the industrialist is engaging in the economic equivalent of Donald Trump’s Stop the Steal, encouraging his fans and supporters to believe McCormick has disenfranchised them, negating their vote for his compensation.
Interesting https://t.co/NXeIQXa45c
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2024
He has endorsed posts from influential members of the Tesla community that reframe the issue as an attack on their shareholder rights or claim the court itself is rigged, rather than engage on the substance or merit of McCormick’s opinion which focused on the “deeply flawed” governance process.
Musk has also promoted those falsely belittling her as an art graduate from Harvard, a university whose reputation is now in question over its alleged diversity bias (in fact the judge studied philosophy, a fairly common major among lawyers).
With 171 million followers, any post he engages with automatically is boosted by the algorithm, giving Musk a powerful megaphone to shape opinions.
