Elon Musk’s SpaceX is suing the California agency, alleging political bias over rocket launches

Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has sued a California commission in federal court, accusing panel members of political bias in blocking the space venture company from increasing the number of rockets it launches from an air base in the state.

SpaceX sued the California Coastal Commission on Tuesday in Los Angeles, seeking an injunction that would stop the agency from regulating the company’s Falcon 9 rocket launch program at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara.

The lawsuit alleged that the commission, which oversees land and water use within more than 1,000 miles of the state’s coastline, unfairly asserted regulatory powers over the company’s launches based on a disapproval of Musk’s political views.

The agency, at its Oct. 10 meeting, had said that commercial space launches are not federal government activity and should be subject to the commission’s coastal development permitting authority.

The commission declined to comment on Wednesday.

SpaceX and its attorneys at the law firm Venable did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Musk, whose politics have taken a sharp turn to the right, has backed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and become a mega-donor, campaigning for the former president and saying he would accept a role in the Trump administration if he won.

California, the home state of Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, has moved into a solidly Democratic state in recent decades with the party holding statewide offices and throwing its weight behind Democratic candidates in national elections.

A commissioner on the 12-member coastal panel recently accused Musk, who has increasingly asserted his voice in the presidential race, of “spewing and posting political lies.”

SpaceX, which contracts with the U.S. government to deploy satellites and other payloads, has launched Falcon 9 rockets from Central California Air Force Base since 2013. The company launched 28 Falcon 9 rockets last year.

The Air Force had proposed increasing the number of annual SpaceX launches from 36 to 50. The Air Force said the proposal met the requirements of the California Coastal Agency, including measures to minimize sonic booms and biological monitoring.

The committee voted 6 to 4 to block additional SpaceX requested launches. Some committee members expressed concern about Musk as a business leader and how SpaceX’s activity in the country was commercial rather than government activity.

Musk’s lawsuit called any consideration of his public statements improper, violating his constitutionally protected free speech rights.

He also accused the commission of “unconstitutional overreach,” interfering with US national security and other federal interests, and said releases at the base have not had “any significant effect on coastal resources.”

“Rarely has a government agency made it so clear that it is overstepping its mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO,” he said.