1/ Remember when (way back in 2016) $tsla sued Michigan, challenging its dealership laws? Short thread about a case that has gone from strangely cold to positively frigid...
2/ Pardon my mixed feelings about the case, but that's the lawyer in me. My libertarian self makes me side with Tesla: let them sell cars any which way they wish. My Constitutional Law 101 self makes me appreciate $tsla had a very weak case. Why is that?
3/ Because $tsla's essential challenge was under the Commerce Clause, & under the case authority, dealership laws do not trigger "heightened scrutiny" analysis, but rather invoke the "rational basis" test...
4/ In other words, can you state any reason for the law that is semi-plausible? If so, you win. In other words, even stupid laws survive the test. And, trust me, there are many stupid laws out there...
5/ ...and they survive Constitutional challenge. It makes sense. We are by and large stupid (tell me honestly, how much do you know about your state representaitives?), & we elect stupid legislators, & they pass stupid laws, mostly to protect self-interest groups...
6/ All that said, the chief defense of the law as rational was that dealerships help assure car buyers of timely & capable service. And, let's face it, $TSLA has spent the last two years helping the State of Michigan build a powerful argument on that basis.
7/ Anyway, after an initial flurry of activity, the case has ground along at a glacial pace. And today, the parties filed a joint stipulation, asking that the case be put on ice until April: 
8/ So, what's up with that? Not sure. $TSLA's lead counsel is the very pricey Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale Dorr LLP. Is Tesla sensing the new Michigan state administration will be more amendable to changing the law? Or, is Tesla choking on the legal fees? A bit of both? Hmmm...
9/ ....I have no idea. Just another piece in the complex Tesla puzzle. But I do know this: $tsla faces an extraordinary number of lawsuits. The days of duck & dodge & delay are coming to an end. The legal fees are increasing. The baby-faced GC just fled for higher ground...
10/ The very last job I would want right now is $tsla General Counsel, answering to his Holy Highness the Almighty Visionary Disruptive Entrepreneurial Physics-Whiz Deep-Thought-Tweeting Earth-Saving Mars-Bound Pedo-Punching Genius, yclept Elon.
