Elon Musk's attempt to move to federal court a lawsuit challenging his $1 million daily giveaways to registered voters in swing states is a "poor decision," former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Friday.
"They did that because they figure the prosecutor has a home-court advantage in front of a state judge who runs for office with him on the same ticket, and they know each other and they're buddy-buddy, and he's going to get a favorable outcome," Napolitano said on "National Report."
"But there's a downside to this. Let's say Musk loses. The judge will say you, 'Can't do this. You've got to conform with the lottery standards in Pennsylvania' in a state court. If he loses in federal court, the federal judge can order him to comply with state lottery regulations throughout the entire country. So, they took a terrific chance, I think, a poor decision moving it to federal court.
"Now, the flip side of this is we're four days ahead of the election day. This is going to stop at the end of Monday. How much more of this can possibly go on in the next four days? I don't know. How soon could the judge rule? Who knows?"
A Pennsylvania state judge said on Thursday he would not immediately move forward with a lawsuit that seeks to stop Musk's giveaway.
At a hearing in Pennsylvania, Judge Angelo Foglietta said he would place the lawsuit on hold while a federal court considers whether to take up the case.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is seeking to halt the giveaway less than a week before the tightly contested presidential election between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.
Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur who is spending heavily to back Republican Donald Trump, had been ordered to attend the hearing but did not appear, which Napolitano called a "very, very bad move."
"I can tell you from my personal experience, a judge orders you to be in court no matter who you are, you show up, you got two strikes against you," Napolitano told Newsmax. "By not physically being there and saying he was too busy. He did the events that caused the lawsuit to be filed. He's got to show up. I guarantee you he shows up in federal court because the feds will not take this very lightly."
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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