Musk's attorneys said in a March 11 response that Musk did not violate the settlement and argued that the SEC was overstepping the bounds of their agreement.
Musk's settlement with the SEC requires Musk to receive approval from Tesla before tweeting information about the company that could be relevant to shareholders. The February 19 tweet about vehicle production did not meet that criterion, Musk's attorneys said, since it was close to projections that had already been made.
According to Musk's attorneys, the SEC was attempting to expand the settlement's scope to include any of Musk's tweets about Tesla, regardless of their relevance to shareholders.
"Such a broad prior restraint would violate the First Amendment," Musk's attorneys said.