2-4-2025 – X, the social media titan owned by Elon Musk, has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and block law enforcement from compelling companies like cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to surrender users’ financial details without proper justification. The plea, lodged in a compelling amicus curiae brief last Friday, underscores X Corp.’s stance that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) overstepped its bounds by wielding a sweeping subpoena to extract three years’ worth of transaction records from Coinbase, encompassing data on over 14,000 customers—including that of petitioner James Harper—without so much as a warrant.
The controversy traces back to 2020, when Harper launched legal action against the IRS, accusing the agency of unlawfully snatching data that exposed him as a cryptocurrency owner. Despite his efforts, a federal court in 2023 upheld the IRS’s actions, ruling that the agency’s access to Coinbase’s user records fell within its legal remit. Undeterred, X, alongside seven researchers and advocacy groups, is now challenging what it calls “suspicionless” subpoenas—broad, invasive demands that, it argues, trample on the privacy rights enshrined in the Fourth Amendment. X contends that the IRS’s blanket seizure of Coinbase’s records, lacking any specific suspicion, represents a flagrant breach of Harper’s constitutional protections.
The Supreme Court, taking note of the escalating dispute, called on the federal government to submit a response by Monday, as reflected in its petition docket. At the heart of X’s argument is a warning: such unchecked subpoenas threaten the sanctity of personal data in an increasingly digital world. With its intervention, X seeks to redraw the line between governmental authority and individual liberty, casting itself as a defender of user rights in a case that could reshape the landscape of privacy law.
