The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is not a conservative court by any stretch of the imagination, ruled unanimously on Tuesday in favor of Elon Musk and X in a case regarding whether the government can issue gag orders around its subpoenas.

In a long X post, its Global Government Affairs division called the ruling a "victory for transparency and free speech."

In a victory for transparency and free speech, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled in X’s favor to limit the U.S. government’s ability to issue gag orders. These gag orders prevent X from notifying the public when it receives government search warrants and…

— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) July 22, 2025

The case

The post continued, explaining exactly what happened in the case:

Last year, X received a subpoena from the federal government demanding the personal information of two former FBI agents, Kyle Seraphin and Garrett O’Doyle. This was accompanied by a gag order requiring X to keep the subpoena secret. Seraphin and O’Doyle were whistleblowers who had disclosed to Congress that the FBI was improperly targeting certain politically disfavored groups.  

Following their whistleblowing activities, Seraphin and O’Doyle were fired from their jobs and subject to a criminal investigation, suggesting retaliation by the government.  Yet when X wanted to transparently disclose the government’s subpoena to the public, it could not do so because the government had obtained a gag order. 

X challenged the gag order in court, arguing that it violated federal statutes and the First Amendment.  The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has now vindicated X’s challenge, ruling that the gag order exceeded the government’s authority.

X concluded the post by saying that it believes the ruling will prevent retaliatory investigations and prosecutions, which have become a problem in recent years.

"X welcomes the ruling, which will help ensure transparency and accountability in the U.S. government’s efforts to investigate its citizens," it said.

The accusations

Back in 2023, Seraphin leaked that the FBI was targeting Catholic groups who preferred the Latin Mass and had other traditional views.

The bureau had said holding these views could amount to  ‘adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and white supremacist ideology.’”

In other words, conservative Catholics were more likely to be politically conservative (which the bureau equated to being a bigoted white supremacist, apparently).

Apparently, the X post misspelled the name of the other agent, which was Garrett O'Boyle.

He was suspended after he was accused of leaking sensitive information to Project Veritas, which he denied during a hearing in the House.