• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, November 22, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump and X Corp, now owned by Trump ally Elon Musk, on Wednesday told an appellate court that they are in talks to resolve a battle over Trump's 2021 suspension from X, formerly Twitter.

Attorneys for Trump and X on Wednesday said in a letter to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that they are “actively discussing a potential settlement,” and urged the court to stay proceedings in the case, which was argued over one year ago.

News of the possible deal comes as Musk is preparing to help lead an initiative aimed at cutting costs in the federal government.

A settlement would bring an end to a lawsuit brought by Trump in July 2021, when he claimed that X violated the First Amendment by suspending his account after the January 6 riot.

U.S. District Court Judge James Donato in the Northern District of California dismissed Trump's complaint in May 2022, ruling that only the government -- and not private companies like X -- are bound by the First Amendment prohibition on censorship.

After that ruling came out, Musk acquired X and reversed the decision to suspend Trump's account.

Even though Trump's account had been reinstated, he appealed Donato's ruling to the 9th Circuit, where he argued that X had acted as a “censorship proxy” for the government.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit heard arguments in the case in October 2023, but hasn't yet issued a decision.

Trump was also banned by Facebook and YouTube after January 6, and sued those companies as well. Those matters were stayed, pending the 9th Circuit's ruling in the lawsuit against X.