In the latest episode of Elon Musk's battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Tesla chief executive officer's lawyers said the agency has no basis for contempt sanctions against him.

The SEC called for Musk to be held in contempt of court last month for tweeting inaccurate Tesla production estimates without seeking pre-approval from the Palo Alto, California-based company's general counsel, an alleged violation of his settlement with the agency. Musk settled with the SEC in September over tweets incorrectly claiming he'd secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share.

Musk's defense counsel John Hueston of Hueston Hennigan said in a filing Monday that the CEO has attempted to comply with the SEC agreement and that his tweets contained publicly available information and didn't heavily impact stock prices. Hueston further claimed “the Order as the SEC interprets it would raise serious First Amendment issues and implicate other constitutional rights,” as Musk has openly criticized the agency. Neither Tesla nor Hueston immediately responded to request for comment.