Governor Abbott Appeals Order to Release Elon Musk Emails
Governor Greg Abbott is appealing a court order requiring him to provide gubernatorial challenger Gina Hinojosa access to unredacted communications with Elon Musk.
A Travis County judge ordered Texas Governor Greg Abbott to provide state Representative Gina Hinojosa, his Democratic gubernatorial opponent, access to nearly 1,400 pages of unredacted emails between the governor and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The order, issued Monday, set a deadline of 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, for the governor's office to provide records that were previously withheld or heavily redacted.
Hinojosa filed the lawsuit after a previous records request by The Texas Newsroom resulted in 1,374 pages of communications that were largely blacked out. She argues that as a state legislator, she has a legal right to inspect the documents for legislative purposes to ensure transparency regarding the influence of billionaire donors. Governor Abbott's office described the emails as intimate and embarrassing, claiming they are protected as privileged policymaking.
Governor Abbott has since appealed the ruling to the 15th Court of Appeals by filing an emergency petition for a writ of mandamus. This appeal automatically halts the order to release the documents. The governor's legal team argues the district court lacks jurisdiction and characterizes the lawsuit as a political maneuver. A hearing to consider a longer-lasting injunction is scheduled for Nov. 2.
