The Philly DA’s legal bout with Elon Musk heads to a city courtroom Thursday

The legal bout between Philadelphia’s district attorney and the world’s richest man will head to a city courtroom Thursday morning.

With a hugely consequential presidential election just days away — and Pennsylvania at the center of the contest — a city judge is expected to hear arguments in a lawsuit filed by Philadelphia’s top prosecutor, Larry Krasner, who has accused Elon Musk of running an illegal lottery with his $1 million daily giveaway to voters in battleground states.

The proceedings are scheduled to start inside a City Hall courtroom around 10 a.m.

Krasner, a Democrat, contends that Musk’s controversial sweepstakes — which is run by the tech billionaire’s America PAC, a group that supports Republican nominee Donald Trump — skirts state requirements for lottery games and violates consumer protection laws while seeking to influence the election. He’s asked Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta to halt the giveaway in Pennsylvania.

Musk’s attorneys have yet to respond in detail to Krasner’s allegations. But Musk has generally defended the exercise as an award for signing a petition to support the Constitution. And his PAC has continued posting videos of winners on his social media platform, X.

Krasner’s suit, filed in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia, was the first legal action challenging the giveaway, which is open to voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina — all key battleground states in which Musk has mobilized a campaign supporting Trump.

The U.S. Justice Department has warned Musk that the giveaway violates federal laws banning inducements to voters, though Musk’s PAC has continued to issue oversize checks as Election Day draws closer.

It was not immediately clear whether Musk — or Krasner — will appear in court Thursday morning, or if their lawyers would appear in their stead.

Foglietta’s order scheduling the hearing said “all parties must be present.” But the order was addressed to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and America PAC — not Krasner or Musk. And it was not issued until around 4 p.m. Wednesday, giving Musk, a resident of Texas, less than 24 hours to show up.

Krasner on Wednesday had asked for additional security measures to be put into place for the hearing and any future court proceedings, saying that on social media, people who disagreed with his position had published “an avalanche” of inflammatory posts about him after the suit was filed, including “antisemitic attacks” and at least one “inviting political violence.”

It also was not clear what action Foglietta might take during or after the hearing. Krasner said in his suit that Musk’s giveaway “must be stopped, immediately, before the upcoming Presidential Election on Nov. 5.”

Foglietta’s order says simply that the parties must “show cause why the relief requested should not be granted.”

This is a developing story that will be updated.