A lawsuit filed by the Philadelphia district attorney's office searching for to stop Elon Musk and his political motion committee from continuing handy out $1 million prizes to swing voters within the states will likely be heard – no less than for now – in federal court in Pennsylvania, said a judge on Thursday.
But John Summers, an attorney for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, asked one hours later Federal judge to return the lawsuit “immediately” to the state court.
“There is no federal jurisdiction over the complaint,” Summers wrote in a federal court filing. “The lawsuit does not assert any federal claims; rather, it asserts federal claims of public nuisance caused by the operation of an illegal lottery.”
Summers requested a direct hearing on his application.
Summers told reporters Thursday that he would file such a motion after a temporary hearing within the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas.
This hearing was originally scheduled to deal with an emergency request from Krasner to dam Musk and America PAC from moving forward with the $1 million award.
But attorneys for Musk and America PAC filed a notice of removal in Pennsylvania federal court late Wednesday, just hours after a Court of Common Pleas Judge Angelo Foglietta ordered it Tesla CEO appears in person on the emergency hearing.
The notice argued that since the PAC is registered as a federal corporation, it is just not subject to state law.
“While the lawsuit purports to assert only federal claims related to public nuisance and consumer protection, DA Krasner's claims, as is evident at first glance of the lawsuit, revolve primarily around the allegation that the defendants chose to base a federal election on some illegitimate basis Disturb in a way,” the file says.
Musk didn’t appear at Thursday's hearing, but his lawyers were present.
Matthew Haverstick, a lawyer for Musk and the PAC, said on the hearing that the billionaire was a busy man who couldn't “step in” on a 12-hour notice. Haverstick also said Musk was named as a defendant by prosecutors as a “publicity stunt.”
Foglietta acknowledged on the hearing that Musk's firing notice meant the case couldn’t be heard within the Court of Common Pleas in the intervening time.
During the hearing, Summers called Musk's last-minute impeachment request “cowardly and irresponsible.”
It's not clear how quickly a federal judge will rule on Krasner's request to maneuver the case back to state court or stop the lottery.
Krasner's lawsuit alleging Musk's $1 million gift was an illegal, unregulated lottery was filed within the Court of Common Pleas on Monday.
A hearing on Krasner's request for an injunction to forestall the lottery from continuing was originally scheduled for Friday.
On Wednesday, lawyers for Krasner raised security concerns in a court proceeding as a consequence of “anti-Semitic attacks” on the district attorney by Musk's social media followers, one in every of whom posted the prosecutor's home address online. The lawyers also asked the judge to order Musk and a representative from America PAC to seem in person at Friday's hearing.
Later Wednesday, the judge rescheduled the hearing for Thursday morning and ordered Musk to be present.
Musk and his America PAC offered the supposedly random money prizes to people in one in every of seven swing states who sign a petition “in support of the Constitution.” The prosecution's lawsuit accuses Musk of attempting to influence voters within the election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Musk strongly supports Trump within the race.
“America PAC and Musk are luring citizens of Philadelphia – and others in the Commonwealth (and other swing states in the upcoming election) – to give up their personal identification information and make a political pledge in exchange for a chance to win a million dollars.” , Krasner's lawsuit says. “It’s a lottery.”
The USA Ministry of Justice America PAC had previously warned that the lottery could violate federal election law, but had not filed a court motion to dam it.
America PAC said it gave away a complete of $12 million within the lottery.
Four of the $1 million prizes went to people in Pennsylvania, essentially the most swing states eligible for the prize.
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