In court brief, Elon Musk says the SEC is unlawfully muzzling him

In the brief, Elon Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro contends that the SEC is continually investigating Mr. Musk for topics not covered by the settlement

U.S. Securities regulators are unlawfully muzzling Tesla CEO Elon Musk, violating his free speech rights by continually trying to enforce a 2018 securities fraud settlement, Mr. Musk's lawyer contends in a court brief.

The document, filed late Tuesday with the federal appeals court in Manhattan, was written to support Mr. Musk's appeal of a lower court's April decision to uphold the settlement with Securities and Exchange Commission.

The brief says that a provision in the settlement requiring Mr. Musk to get prior approval before tweeting about the electric car company is an illegal “government-imposed muzzle on Mr. Musk's speech before it is made."

The settlement required that his tweets be approved by a Tesla attorney before being published. The SEC is investigating whether Mr. Musk violated the settlement with tweets last November asking Twitter followers if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock.

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But in the brief, Mr. Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro contends that the SEC is continually investigating Mr. Musk for topics not covered by the settlement. It asks the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to strike or modify the prior approval provision.

“The pre-approval provision in the consent decree qualifies as a prior restraint on speech that runs afoul of the First Amendment,” Mr. Spiro wrote. “It forbids future lawful speech on a range of topics absent approval.”