The judge says Musk failed to identify ‘any question of federal law that must be resolved in Plaintiff’s favor in order to prove either state-law claim.’
The prosecution against billionaire Elon Musk’s $1 million giveaways must return to a Philadelphia court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Gerald Pappert ruled on Nov. 1.
Musk was supposed to appear before a judge in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 31 but the case switched jurisdictions after he filed a notice of removal in federal court. John Summers, an attorney arguing for Krasner, said during a hearing in the Philadelphia court that Musk was acting cowardly and suggested he used a legal maneuver to avoid a case wherein the facts weren’t on his side.
Judge Angelo Foglietta concluded the hearing, stating that he no longer had jurisdiction over the case — something Musk touted on X as “American Justice [for the win].”
Pappert added that district attorneys like Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who brought the case against Musk, were “alter egos of the Commonwealth and are not citizens for diversity jurisdiction purposes.” In their notice to removal, Musk’s attorneys added that Krasner expressed concern about “independent expenditures to influence campaigns for federal office and the core political speech via petition gathering—both of which raise significant questions of federal law that are within the exclusive province of this Court.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
